What's the story, morning glory?

Dec 2008 interview with my mate Choo...

C: Hey Stevie!

S: Hey Choo! What’s occurring?

C: Questions is what’s occurring. You okay with that?

S: Sure.

C: Start by telling me about you …

S: Well, I’m vibrant, young and very sexy. I’ve green eyes, a gorgeous smile….

C: Yeah, yeah.

S: I left school in the eighties with no qualifications, got an admin job, hated it and realised I’d been a complete arse ‘cos I was virtually unemployable.

C: Sounds wonderful.

S: It wasn’t, believe me.

C: Any writing during this time?

S: Actually yes…a bit. I wrote a short novel, which I sent off to a handful of publishers. They each sent it back pretty quick. I took this to be a damning verdict on my ability so I promptly gave up and didn’t start again until much later. But – and it is a big but – I got some rather nice comments from them. At the time I assumed this was the polite brush off they gave everyone.

C: How old were you?

S: 16

C: Do you regret giving up for so long?

S: No. I’d never gotten to this point if I’d taken a different path.

C: What path did you take?

S: Loads of ‘em. I was a plumber’s mate, a shop assistant (twice), a market stool holder, a caterer, an office assistant, a health food salesman….you bored yet?

C: Yes, but go on.

S: I ended up as a junior draftsman because a friend of the family said I’d be good at it. I wasn’t.

C: There seems to be a pattern developing here.

S: Yes, if you look carefully you can just about see it.

C: So what did you do?

S: I went off to study Immunology.

C: Just like that?

S: No, not just like that. But I knew Immunology was a subject I loved to read about and perhaps something I could be good at. So I hatched a plan and ended up at Kings College London under the tutelage of Dr. Huw Davies.

C: And after that?

S: I moved to Queens’ College, Cambridge to study molecular genetics.

C: So where does Chiropractic come in?

S: Chiropractic entered my life a few years before then. I’d damaged my back training with weights and Chiropractic succeeded where all the ‘conventional’ treatment I had failed. I couldn’t get it out of my head after that, so when I heard the University of Surrey were running a post grad ‘sprint’ in Chiropractic, I signed up for it.

C: You were a bit of a serial student then, huh?

S: Oh, Christ yeah.

C: And afterwards?

S: I set up The Spinal Health Clinic with Jo. We started in a single room in a leisure centre and within 6 years we had a 14-room purpose built practice, with 20-odd team members providing Chiropractic care for thousands of patients in our community.

C: It’s done okay then?

S: It’s done good.

C: And is that’s why the character Stich in Kill and Cure is a Chiropractor?

S: No that’s just a coincidence.

C: Very funny.

S: I try.

C: You said you gave up any sort of writing for a long time. When did you start again?

S: About 2003 I got the ‘urge’. I experimented for a year then I had the idea for Kill and Cure.

C: And the rest is history, eh?

S: Well, not quite.

C: Is K&C the beginning of a series of novels featuring Stitch?

S: Depends how readers take to him. The novel I'm working on now, features the detectives Varcy and Kendrick (again as secondary characters) from K&C.  I like their energy and the way they bounce off each other. We'll see how it pans out.

C: Now, on another matter. I was at a seminar of yours last month. Tell me about that.

S: The seminars have grown out of the success we have had with SHC. They started as a response from other healthcare professionals who wanted to create what we had. It’s since grown to include anyone who wants more out of their life. By that I mean more freedom, more time, more money, more passion.... so many of us are stuck, it seems to me. We want to grow, to get away from the nine-to-five but are either unsure or too scared to do it. Well, our seminars take you on the journey of your life. You won’t be the same afterwards I guarantee it!

C: Sounds good. Where can we get info on this?

S: The Wow Practice

C: Will there be any books that accompany the seminars?

S: Yes, there’s a title planned for Summer 2009. 

C: Great. I think I’m all out of questions. Okay to leave it there?

S: You bored already? I’m just warming up!

C: I don’t want you to peak too early, that’s all.

S: I bet you say that to all the boys…..