Why I wrote the book

why did I do this?

It was quite the undertaking - the finished book is over 100,000 words - and it likely won't be a bestseller - you can now buy it here!

Here are a few reasons:

fulfilling a life ambition - I'd always wanted to write a book. This seemed like the obvious first thing, writing what I knew.
making my own credential - I wanted to become a writer and I have! Before even publishing the book, I've become a freelance writer and creator, employed by various clients and publishing in various places across 'the internet'.
depicting the underrepresented life of a professional away from the elite - I strongly feel that rugby is built on the backs of players who receive little to no recognition or money. My experience is odd and unusual but is more representative of the typical professional rugby player's experience than being an international is. Only 15 people can play for England at any one time. I really believe that fans of the game will be interested to read how the life of a professional is for the majority.
learning new skills - I learned how to write a book, how (not) to pitch agents and publishers, how to find an editor, how to respond to feedback and how to work with a cover designer. I'll learn how to self publish and market a book. Most importantly, I learned how to be vulnerable, how to put myself out there and how to create something. These lessons have already been so valuable .
capping off a 'chapter' - there's no doubt that leaving professional sport behind typically results in something not unlike a period of mourning as one 'you' ends and another 'you' begins. This isn't necessarily healthy but it's certainly what happens. This book acts as something of a capstone to my time as a rugby player.
it was fun - it was really fun. Since leaving rugby, I felt like I had yet to 'do anything'. being someone who had always been doing things, I felt that doing a project of some sort would be a good thing for me and I found that once I got going, I really enjoyed the process. I ignored friends, holing up at a table late into the evening and hammering out the words. It was brilliant.

the background

After 'retiring' from rugby, I'd experimented with a range of different gigs, spending a few months here and a few months there, without being really convinced by anything.

What each of those things did do was teach me some valuable lessons, practise some skills and realise what I could potentially bring to a work environment. In each there were positives and negatives, as well as insights into lines of work that I previously didn't know anything about.

During that time, I was writing in my spare time, largely just for myself.

I've always loved to read and entertained the idea of becoming 'a writer' but never really done much about it. At Plymouth Albion I wrote for an online rugby magazine that a friend created, but it stopped when he got a job at ESPN off the back of it.

I did some research projects for trend analysts, aggregating information and providing opinion on the future of rugby, I dabbled with small pieces of fiction that I didn't share with anyone and I wrote the odd humorous poem for team social groups.

One Christmas themed poem went down particularly well. It was more of a ballad really.

During this post-rugby period of experimentation, I began to work with a career coach who encouraged me to follow my inclination to write. I'd already been exploring it by doing a short fiction course at the Open University, a free online course that I've recommended to a few people now where you complete short exercises, giving and receiving feedback with your fellow course takes, all under the cloak of anonymity.

This is the course if you're interested:

Online Fiction Writing Course: Start Writing Fiction

It's a great, low stakes way to see if you enjoy the writing. I really did enjoy it and got some great feedback from the others involved. After this, and the encouragement of my coach, I wrote a clickbaity piece about rugby retirement and posted it on LinkedIn.

It got some great reactions and really encouraged me that I had an ability with words. Many of the messages I received commented on the tone, how it read like I was there talking and I took that as an incredible compliment.

The piece is here:

6 Tips for Retiring Rugby Pros

I'd been juggling different bits of ongoing work from my previous positions and was offered some writing gigs off the back of this LinkedIn piece which I accepted. I spent the summer attending all my friends' weddings and being present for all the big moments that I'd previously have missed due to pursuing my rugby career. An athletic career doesn't make allowances for these big social events, especially if you're in France!

Then I experienced the end of my long term relationship, breaking up with my girlfriend after 5 years together. A the time, I also had the offer of some work experience at a digital sports agency in London, so I went up, housesat for a friend and took on this placement.

Although I enjoyed telling some of the stories that we created during my time at the agency, there were many things bout it that I found unsatisfactory. The waste of time that office hours engender, the reliance on interns to do the digital heavy lifting and the sense that it wasn't essentially something that would give me a sense of purpose.

I'd been mulling over the idea of writing a book about my rugby career but had struggled with a concept. The trials and tribulations of a second division rugby player are not exactly headline stuff, nor are they an especially unique experience in some ways. I realised that France was my differentiator and that I could create my own credential by writing a book about my time there, using the events as a framework to expand upon life as a rugby player and bigger issues around the game rather than limiting the book to things that happened to me.

I also serendipitously bumped into an old school friend who had been ghostwriting for others and was embarking on her own book project. We met for coffee and she was enthused by my idea, even though she has a general disinterest towards rugby. This encouraged me further and gave me an example of someone who was pursuing this line of work.

The knowledge that it's possible for people like you is often all the encouragement you need. At school there was an older pupil who became a Bath Rugby player, fulfilling many teenage dreams, giving the rest of us an example that we could see every day, walking around, going to the gym and practising. Proximity to what we want is so powerful.

This girl had done something similar and she pushed me to follow suit. In the words of Russell Westbrook, I thought 'Why Not?'