Life … With No Breaks / Nick Spalding

Genre: Humor/Memoir

Approximate word count: 55,000-60,000 words for main book. Also includes a glossary of British terminology and a bonus short story.

Availability Kindle: YES    Nook: YES   DTB: NO

Author:

Nick Spalding is a copywriter for a marketing company and lives in the South of England. He suffers from insomnia, has an irrational fear of sponges, and is very proud of certain of his physical attributes. Spalding has a blog, Spalding’s Racket, that promotes books from other indie authors.

Description:

While lying in bed one morning Nick Spalding had a brainstorm. He should sit down and pound out the book he knew was in him somewhere. His twist was doing it in a single sitting. That evening he sat down with no idea what he would write about - thirty hours later he headed for bed. After some editing and proofing, Spalding unleashed Life … With No Breaks on an unsuspecting world.

Appraisal:

I admit, when I first heard the concept behind this book I was skeptical. I’ve heard too many stories of novelists who are finally seeing a modicum of success after years of trying. Most have a drawer full of unpublished manuscripts not even they think are any good. What were the odds of this one being worthwhile?

Turns out I was missing some pertinent information. Spalding has spent plenty of time trying and failing. An included bonus short story is one of the first he ever wrote, cleaned up as much as possible. He’s the first to admit it is still quite bad and I suspect it was included as evidence of some kind. He’s also made his living for several years as a copywriter. Cranking out words is no problem.

Spalding still needed a story. He works that out in the first part of the book, eventually falling into writing about the subject he knows more about than anyone else, the life of Nick Spalding.

I have a theory that everyone has a life that is interesting if you pick the right parts to talk about and tell the story well. (That’s the excuse all us old farts use for forcing you to listen to our back-in-the-day stories.) Spalding picks and chooses well, telling his story in a humorous, self-depreciating tone and a stream of consciousness style. (Those who hear this and experience flashbacks of being forced to read Faulkner or James Joyce in school, don’t panic. It’s okay.) Much of Spalding’s life story is funny. Much of it is his version on the experiences we’ve all had. It turns out my theory was right. Spalding’s life is interesting – at least the way he tells it

FYI:

Life … With No Breaks contains UK spelling and many British expressions. A helpful glossary in the back will clue you in to the meanings of the latter if needed.

Format/Typo Issues:

I found a small number of typos and other proofing errors.

Rating: **** Four stars