Horizons

Today was a big... an important day for me. Today, I left our village for the first time in nine weeks. You are probably assuming that the reason is Covid or even a disability, but that is not the case.

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Distant Horizons

How far do you need to be able to see to live your life, or even do your job, well?

Today was a big… an important day for me. Today, I left our village for the first time in nine weeks. You are probably assuming that the reason is Covid or even a disability, but that is not the case. The simple fact is that there is no village bus service any more, and my wife no longer feels strong enough to take me and my 120 kilos on the back of her motorcycle. The only other way out is Shank’s Pony, but the nearest town is 13 km away.

Yes, I know… great exercise… until you have to do it yourself.

Horizons

However, the reason that I am bringing this up is not to complain about the lack of a local bus service, my wife’s lack of physical strength, or even my inability to walk 26 kilometres.

I just want to say that, as a writer, it is easier to draw inspiration from a vast array of experience than from a narrow one.

I have written 50-odd novels, mostly in this village, but not inspired by this village. A village is great for writing in, but not for writing about.

I have used instances that I have experienced here in my novels, but nothing that I have undergone here has been enough to write a whole book about. It takes a lot to write 80,000 words on a theme.

What I am saying is that, although one can write a book about one’s internal mechanism or strife, how many sequels can you add to it?

Village Life

A village is small for a writer… or it is for me… or perhaps it’s because, not being Thai, I don’t know everything that’s going on around me.

It is true that village life is a microcosm of that in a city, but people are more constrained by their family in a village than they are outside it. Males and females alike, but especially females.

I know that people will understand what I am talking about, because youths have always flocked to towns and cities from villages for centuries.

It is for the same reason… in order to be able to experience more (OK, and make more money).

I need to get out more in order to write more. I am being stifled here… It is no-one’s fault, but it is a fact.

The farther you can see, the better the chance you have of understanding more… and the more you have to write about.

It is all a question of horizons.

Best wishes,

Owen

Daddy’s Hobby – The Story of Lek, A Bar Girl In Pattaya

Our sister blog: The Amiable Dragon

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Owen Jones, Amazon Best-Selling Author from Barry, Wales, has lived in several countries and travelled in many more. While studying Russian in the USSR in the '70's, he hobnobbed with spies on a regular basis; in Suriname, he got caught up in the 1982 coup; and while a company director, he joined the crew of four as the galley slave to sail from Barry to Gibraltar a home-made concrete yacht, which was almost rammed by a Russian oil tanker and an American aircraft carrier.
“I am a Celt, and we are romantic”, he said when asked about his writing style, “and I firmly believe in reincarnation, Karma and Fate, so, sayings like 'Do unto another...', and 'What goes round comes around' are central to my life and reflected in my work. I write about what I see, or think I see, or dream... and, in the end it is all the same really”. He speaks seven languages and is learning Thai, since he lives in Thailand with his Thai wife of fifteen years.
His first novel, Daddy's Hobby is from the seven-part series 'Behind The Smile: The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya', but his largest collection is 'The Megan Series', twenty-three novelettes on the psychic development of a teenage girl, the subtitle of which, 'A Spirit Guide, A Ghost Tiger and One Scary Mother!' sums them up nicely. He has written fifty novels and novelettes, including: Dead Centre; Andropov's Cuckoo; Fate Twister; The Disallowed (a philosophical comedy); Tiger Lily of Bangkok; and A Night in Annwn (Annwn being the ancient Welsh word for Heaven). Many have been translated into foreign languages and narrated into audio books.
Owen Jones writes stories set in Wales, Spain and Thailand, where he now lives. He is a life-long Spiritualist, and this belief is interwoven, in a very realistic way, into many of his books and storylines. If you like a touch of the 'supernatural', try his books
He sums his life up thus: “Born in the Land of Song, Living in the Land of Smiles”.

Articles: 595

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