I write narrative non-fiction, travel and humour books and occasionally do much the same kind of thing for newspapers and magazines.
As far as work goes, I'm never happier than when I'm in the middle of writing something, but when The Lie of the Land came out in 2010 and I spent the Summer and Autumn appearing here and there to promote it, I suddenly discovered I also enjoy travelling up and down Britain stopping off to talk about books and writing.
You get to meet a lot of people at events and signings but one of my favourite encounters was while I was on a research mission in Shropshire, when I met a birdwatcher on the banks of the River Teme by Ludlow. It wasn't long before I realised that I was talking to someone I now regard to be not only the world's most unsuccessful birdwatcher, but - on account of his slightly swivel-eyed comportment - possibly its most drunken one as well. And he was a mean, nasty - though entertaining - drunk as well; alcohol had inverted his love of birds into an all-embracing loathing. He hated Mallards and Swans the most but recoiled from blackbirds, swallows and wagtails also - their specific crimes were not spoken of, but he despised them all the same.
Which all goes to show, as I hope I proved in The Lie of the Land, that if you scratch the surface of this country, you'll always find a gem.
My website is at http://www.ianvince.co.uk
I also operate sites at http://www.britishlandscape.org.uk and
http://www.socialscrutiny.org
