I didn't realise it had been two months since my last post.
Time really does fly when you're keeping yourself busy.
And how have I been keeping myself busy?
By finalising and releasing my new book!!
It's called The Girl with the Green-Tinted Hair and is available on Lulu.
http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?type=&keyWords=gavin+whyte&x=0&y=0&sitesearch=lulu.com&q=
It follows a friendship between a boy and a girl (who has green-tinted hair . . . ) over the course of four seasons. Each seasons contains within it a lesson.
It's a pocket-sized book, containing 79 pages, so it's easily read in less than an hour. But it is my hope that its message(s) will stay with the reader for some time to come.
I touched on the underlying subject of the story in my first book, Waiting for Wings.
The idea of somebody aging with the seasons wouldn't leave me alone.
Just over a year ago I was in the Dr's waiting room and I looked around at the other people who were waiting to be seen. Beside me was an elderly man - flat cap, walking stick - and sat in front of him was a young lady with her young daughter, who was running around frantically.
And that's when something happened - I saw them as leaves. And each one of them could be slotted nicely into the seasons. The young girl was spring. Her mum was summer. The elderly man was autumn.
This was one of those experiences that followed me everywhere.
Sometimes, when certain people come into your life you just know that they're going to play a significant role in the unfolding of your story.
Six months after moving into the Buddhist Centre, a girl called Monika moved in (she designed the cover for the book and also drew the leaves which begin each chapter). We became good friends from the start, sharing a love of music and nature - and tea. One day we got talking about hair colour (I was probably mentioning that my mates take the piss out of me for being ginger - which I kind of am - but not really) and she said that she dyed her hair to match the colours of autumn.
I will never forget when she said that because I was taken straight back to the experience I had in the Dr's waiting room.
I told her my idea for the story and she said that I should read one of her favourite tales, The Happy Prince, by Oscar Wilde.
What a huge effect that story had on me.
I loved it.
Without that, I can guarantee that The Girl with the Green-Tinted Hair would not be the story it is.
It's true, people come into your life to help your story move forward. Sometimes it's a challenge and you may end up wishing you had never met them - but sometimes it's as if you've been waiting for them to come along, and when they do, it's almost like a reunion between souls.
I sincerely hope you enjoy reading the 'Miraculous Fable' (as is the subtitle to the new book) and you end up benefiting from its content.
Once you've read it, pass it on to someone who you think will also attain something positive from it.
Thanks for all of the support I've received up until now and for all the support in the future that I'm sure I'll receive - even from the people who say I'm weird - I use that as proof that I'm being myself.
Signing out . . .
A Happy Prince
www.gavinwhyte.co.uk
Post track: Waterways by Ludovico Einaudi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEZw8om3Vao
