You think about it, you talk about it. And when you finally do it, you’re then faced with a steep mountain to climb. But when you get to the top, the feeling is so incredible and awe inspiring, you want to shout out loud and tell everyone about what you’ve achieved. What am I talking about? The answer is, writing a book!

Hi, my name is David Walker and I’m one of the journalists for Susy Radio. Often you can hear my dulcet tones every Tuesday as part of the news team, bringing you the latest in local news and events in our area. A few years ago, I was chatting to a friend who had an interesting job in the public eye and asked them if they ever fancied having a book written about their career? They liked the thought but were still in employment at the time so we couldn’t do anything about it back then. But on the 3^rd January 2023, they came to my house and we sat down to talk about what should go in it.

This was the first of many meetings, and as the year progressed, I started to piece together all of the weird, wonderful and downright scary aspects of what they had to cover on a daily basis. I’ve known them for over ten years and thought I knew them well. But as the meetings continued, I got to hear a tale which opened my eyes and increased tenfold the level of respect I already had for them. For this is the story of a female London police officer, working on the thin blue line in today’s modern society.

The book follows their career from 1990 to 2020 and includes some of the most newsworthy and life changing events of our time as narrated from their point of view. From the Tavistock Square bombing and attacks on Westminster Bridge, through to the fire at Grenfell Tower. True grit is equally balanced with humourous outtakes of politicians lost handbags, trips to the White House and dancing at the Notting Hill Carnival!

For me, writing the book was the easy part. As a journalist I know how to get the best out of someone and put their words onto paper for others to enjoy. The hard part is what came next, and that’s finding a way to get the book published! Essentially, there are three options available to get my book out into the public domain. They are, Self-publishing, Hybrid publishing and getting a literary agent. Like every other author out there, I’d love to see the fruits of my labour out in every means possible from Hardback and Paperback to Audio, Kindle and Online. But to do this can in some cases costs many thousands of pounds with no guarantee of a return on the investment. Of course, the more you pay, the higher the chance you will at least break even, but it is a risk!

The safest method is to secure a literary agent who will take onboard your project, sell it to a publisher and pay you for all your hard work. They’ll even pay you royalty cheques as time goes on. It’s said that every agent in the country will receive around two thousand manuscripts a year, but out of that figure, only one, or maybe two books will be published from them. The competition is fierce with thousands of authors jostling for first place and receive that golden handshake.

If anyone has ever thought about writing a book but never given it a go, I’d say do it! The past few months for me have been a thoroughly enjoyable experience and I don’t have any regrets about taking on the challenge. Fortunately, I’m now in the early stages of working with a publisher and seeing all my hard work come together. It’s an amazing feeling and I can highly recommend putting pen to paper and letting the creative juices flow. To see something come out of nothing is an amazing experience and one that I’m hoping may even lead to a TV or film deal one day. Keep listening to Susy Radio for regular updates as I make my journey from the laptop in the office, through to launch day of the book, “From Handbags to Hand Grenades”.

Photo credit: West Sussex County Council

A fleet of 43 hydrogen powered buses will be launched across parts of Surrey, Sussex and Kent after a successful bid for funding. 

A partnership between county councils, Metrobus and Gatwick Airport, was awarded £10,000,000 which combined with further funding from Metrobus and other partners, brings the total cost of the project to over £24,000,000. 

Hydrogen buses release zero emissions at the tailpipe and help to reduce carbon emissions. 

The buses will connect rural areas with local towns and Gatwick Airport.  Destinations include Caterham, Redhill, Dorking, Crawley and East Grinstead.