Threepence on the Carpet
Meet Tommy - An Ageing Hippy Musician Still Stuck in the Sixties!
08/07/25 14:20 Filed in: David's Writing | Threepence on the Carpet
There’s nothing quite like the thrill of completing a project and preparing to launch it into the world! It’s even more exciting when the work is a long-cherished dream that’s been in the making for many years.
The idea for Threepence on the Carpet began during my childhood, while watching a puppet show at the beach during a seaside holiday. While the other children roared with laughter at Punch and Judy’s wild antics, I was captivated by the puppeteer’s flamboyant facade. After the show, when he emerged from the puppet booth to take his bow, he invariably had tears streaming down his face. Who was this mercurial character? Why did he look so sad when he put the puppets away? What was he like when he wasn’t performing?
My imagination ran wild, and I imagined the puppeteer as a musician, down on his luck and trying to scrape a living from entertaining the children. This germ of an idea would eventually grow into the long-awaited project.
Writing Threepence on the Carpet has been an absolute blast, especially reliving my childhood memories of the swinging sixties. The Aldermaston marches, the ‘Ban the Bomb’ movement, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the scandals, The Beatles—this was the decade that shook Britain and the rest of the world.
With the final round of copy editing complete, I can’t wait to share Tommy’s extraordinary journey with my readers!
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to everyone!
Where did 2024 go? Life got in the way of my writing last year, but I’m now raring to get going with my projects!
Threepence on the carpet is now almost complete and ready for my editor. I can’t wait to see what magic she will bring to the manuscript. This project has had the longest development time of any of my books. I wrote the first draft before starting on Gang Girl.
A sudden inheritance from a long-lost uncle could be the lifeline Kiwi musician Tommy needs … or a Pandora’s box about to implode. Living in the UK in the swinging sixties, life was a kaleidoscope of love, truth, and high hopes for Tommy—until everything up in a puff of smoking incense and bitter betrayal.
Also coming in 2025 (hopefully!) is Godzone and the Gorillas, the final book in the Gang Girl series. Mother and son must unite to defeat the gang that tore them apart in the gripping series finale!
Author for Today on the Global Girls Online Book Club
15/12/23 19:46 Filed in: David's Writing | Gang Girl | The Road to Madhapur | Threepence on the Carpet
Today has been a blast as Author of the Day on the Global Girls Online Book Club
Keep those Pencils Sharpened - Threepence on the Carpet is here!
Keep those pencils sharpened! Before the rewrite of Gang Girl, I had begun work on my next major novel, Threepence on the Carpet. Now, the excitement of starting Blood Cousins, the second novel in the Gang Girl series, threatens to delay Threepence on the Carpet further.
I first drafted Threepence on the Carpet in January 2018, and I started work on the manuscript, full of enthusiasm. Then came the inspiration for The Road to Madhapur. Guided by advice from early reviewers that medical dramas were in high demand, The Road to Madhapur took precedence.
Threepence on the Carpet is the story of an aspiring Kiwi musician on his big overseas experience in London. Stuck in a dead-end job in a bank, he dreams of making it as a rock star. Caught in the swinging sixties with a new age hippie girlfriend, he writes protest songs for the ban the bomb movement.
Both Threepence on the Carpet and Blood Cousins are bursting to get out of my head and into print! I need to hone my multitasking skills and write them back to back!