THE WRITER'S LIFE

THE WRITER'S LIFE

Well, as always I'll start with honesty. The writer's life is tough. This is no an occupation for any namby-pamby boy. Hemingway always said writing was about the most demanding life one could choose. I have not found things easy over the past two weeks. To be honest I have developed writer's block. But quit? NEVER! Throwing in the towel and Gene could never be part of the same sentence.

One of the things I have been very concerned about is that I have a routine for the day and that I don't get under Marianne's feet. She's a busy girl: she is on call as a translator for hospital duty with the NHS, she does part-time work for a translation agency and she also volunteers in her spare time for the Passage Homeless Centre in Westminster. Yes, I know, I know. I just don't deserve a wife like Marianne.

So in the mornings I get out of the house. Originally I was considering becoming a Soho character and spending my days in the French pub, Wheelers, The Pillars of Hercules and the Coach & Horses. However I abandoned that idea and am sticking to Uxbridge. I'm told the Soho scene is just not the same since the passing of Francis Bacon and Jeffrey Bernard.

Luckily some great coffee bars in Uxbridge:  Hoole  & Harris in the High Street, Giardino in the Intu Centre and even Marks & Spencers café in the Pavilions centre.

Francis Bacon

Jeffrey Bernard

Anyhow spring is just around the corner and I look forward writing at outdoor café tables - I will probably be seen at cafes as far out as Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross.

Hemingway used to find writing at pavement café tables in Paris so stimulating. Clive James has wonderfully evoked the atmosphere of writing alfresco at cafes in Florence and in Rome. Albert Camus was another who wrote in this way.

So hard work ahead but it will all be worth it. And I'm too honest not to admit that there is some vanity here. Imagine the thrill of typing Gene Vincent into the Amazon website and seeing my book cover appear on the screen. And walking through Fassnidge Park or the Intu centre and hear whispered as I go by: "There goes Gene the writer. I just love his latest novel." Or strolling into Waterstone's and casually picking up a copy of HEARTBREAK AT HILLINGDON HIGH and reading the blurb on the back of the dust jacket:

Gene Vincent is a novelist, diarist and humorist. His writing has drawn comparisons with the work of James Joyce, Evelyn Waugh and Aristophanes.

Mr Vincent was educated at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in London and St John's College Oxford. He is married and lives in Uxbridge in west London. 

Ernest Hemingway, Albert Camus and Clive James all liked writing alfresco.