Karl Perry interview

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

A little introduction:

Hi, I’m Karl Perry. A bang average, middle aged bloke. Prior to 2019, my life had felt relatively in order. As much as most people’s, I guess. Not without challenges but pretty good. I’d just turned 50 years old, had been married to my lovely wife, Karina, for 21 years and had two fantastic teenage lads who’d brought no trouble to our door. I owned and ran my own event management agency. There were no Porsches on the drive, but no wolf at the door either. I was healthy, active, had plenty of great mates and was generally enjoying life. Then on 8 May, 2019, all four wheels fell off…

When did your love of books begin?

Like many of us, probably as a young kid, sat next to my Mum, reading to me. Books seemed to have quite a value in our house. I’m not saying they lined the walls, but Mum and Dad always had this thing about ‘you never throw a book away’. You could give it to someone, or to charity but never actually bin one, even if you didn’t like it. Maybe it was a generational thing as my parents probably didn’t have too much when growing up, as kids between the wars. I also grew up in a small village, but it had its own library which would be unheard of these days. I thought nothing of getting on my bike from about age 7 or 8 and heading there to get six books out at a time!

 

I was pretty derailed in terms of reading and writing though, as our local authority decided to experiment with ITA for about three years in infants’ schools in the 1970s. It was a phonetics system which had about 40 characters in its alphabet. The additional symbols were the sounds of either a letter in a word or the sound made by the combination of two letters. Then they scrapped it and everyone was screwed up. We all had to relearn the real alphabet and join the real world with real words. It seems education has been a political football all my life! I'm not sure Netflix would commission a series based on the storylines. either. I’ve attached some images from a reading book I still have – see what I mean?!

When did you start to have the wish to become an author?

Only in 2021, and that was on the back of circumstance. I never set out to be an author or write a book. I wouldn’t have known what to write about or how to go about writing and publishing a book. However, the Universe but something in front of me that couldn’t be ignored. (More on that later!) Once the seed became planted though, about 2/3 of the way through writing what eventually became my book, I joined Michael Heppell’s Write That Book group on Facebook. It was there that I had my eyes opened to the publishing side of things and gained support from other newly published authors and people still writing their first books.

How have you found the process for becoming an author?

As I say, I never set out to write a book, so I had to retro fit my brain dumping and mental downloads into something resembling a book! That said, when I was writing, I was really enjoying it. As the days got lighter in the mornings, I was getting up earlier and earlier to write. It was 5am sometimes! Some days it may only have been 1000 words and one day it was over 5000. Obviously not everything was kept but I didn’t regard any of it a waste of time - even deleting some of the guff that I’d scribbled. It was the process of writing that I enjoyed.

 

I had completely underestimated what an undertaking it is though, to get a book over the line. Getting the Shitty First Draft together is one thing, but the editing took for ever. I think I went through 5 or 6 drafts and eventually lost almost 21K words to get down to the 97K in the final book.

 

But then also, I had to get my head around self-publishing, uploading, formatting, cover designs, print, distribution… and then there’s the promotion! I never knew so much work went into a book project AFTER the writing! I honestly think the writing is about 25% of the project, with editing, publishing and promotion each taking up another 25% each!

 

As Big Chris says at the end of Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, ‘It’s been emotional’.

What would you say to those wanting to become an author?

I’d say, just start writing. Don’t over plan it; just go with your flow. Don’t wait for the ideal time to start – just do the action – start writing stuff down and you’d be amazed at how quickly it begins to build up. You’ll change your mind many times on direction, tone and style but you’ll eventually find your voice and pace. Just trust in your own process and your output just becomes the by-product. And, getting something down is preferable to perfection. Don’t labour over getting the first draft crafted. There’s a reason why they call it the Shitty First Draft!

 

But the feeling you get when your books are delivered and you first hold them and smell them, is incomparable. Knowing that your book will be out there forever is amazing! And then when the reviews begin to come in… goosebumps!

 

But… don’t do it for the money! You’ll get a fraction of the cover price and a fraction of the living wage. What you will have though, are the riches of being able to say, ‘I’m a published author’!

Tell us about your book/books:

If you had an hourglass with the grains of sand falling through it representing your life, and you could see how much of it was left, do you think you’d view life differently?

 

On May 8, 2019, all my grains of sand fell through at once when I had a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) at home and was dead for 11 minutes. I’m writing this, so you’ll know I survived! Staggeringly, only 8% of out of hospital SCAs survive, and prior to this, I’d never have regarded myself as being that lucky! Amazingly my wife kept her shit together and carried out CPR until the paramedics arrived who were wonderful. I owe my wife and them, my life.

 

Coming back from those 11 minutes, changed my outlook on life for ever. I recognised The Universe had presented me with a second life and I was determined to make refinements. Not to do the Hollywood rip it up and start again thing. Just to do more of the stuff that made me smile and less of the stuff that didn’t. By Christmas though, I felt robbed of my second life as work at the event management agency I’d founded 15 years prior, was more demanding than ever. In January 2020 my Mum died and in March, over four days, all our events for the whole year were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I eventually had little option but to close the business in the autumn of 2020. By the end of 2020, I was in a bad place mentally. I was 52 years old, had no job, no career, no formal training and no direction, so I started to write. Just to get thoughts out of my head and to try and process what had happened.

 

To my complete surprise, it was a hugely cathartic process and after six months of writing, two things had happened. The first was that I came to realise that the closing of the company had effectively ended my plans for my second life, and had presented me with a completely blank canvas, for a new, third life. I had no idea what I was going to do or how I was going to fill it. And at 52, that thought terrified me.

 

Secondly, a friend, Damian Hughes, the co-host of the High Performance Podcast, suggested I turned my writing into a book. I originally scoffed at the idea, but warmed to it as others encouraged me. So, in December 2021, I self-published You Only Live Thrice: Perspective is a Superpower. The general theme of the book is about the power of applying perspective and positivity when faced with all consuming, life-changing challenges. It’s also about celebrating the small wins and recognising that not having all the answers, or not knowing what to do next, can be a wonderful opportunity.

 

It's a brutally honest account of the whole physical and mental journey – no topic is off the table, despite my wife wishing I wouldn’t share so much! There’s also plenty of humour in there – I couldn’t have written it any other way!

 

Early in January it became an Amazon Bestseller (#32) on the Kindle Chart for Memoirs and is receiving so many wonderful reviews. The book is resonating with people for all kinds of reasons. You certainly don’t need to have endured a major health scare to get something from the book. People tell me they can’t put it down and are getting through the 300 pages in two days, sometimes. One woman was spotted reading whilst waiting in traffic! 😮

 

I’m also donating £1 from each book sale to the Defibs Save Lives campaign, which provides community CPR training and defibrillators, to try and improve that 8% statistic.

What do you love about the writing/reading community?

Everyone I’ve had contact with has been so generous and willing to share information. There isn’t that competitive, professional protectiveness so common in many aspects of business. This is all about collaboration, even if only in support for helping on your low days – and every author has those! Yes, it’s definitely a sharing and nurturing community. Very refreshing!

If you could say anything to your readers what would it be?

Well, I’m totally humbled by the responses I’ve had from people who’ve read my book. People have been so generous with their words. It’s seems to really resonate with them and hearing how they’ve laughed, cried and have taken things away from the book, just fills me with joy. I want to thank every one of them for all their support and for taking a punt on a new author and a book that could potentially be seen as ‘heavy’. It’s not and they’ve seen that the real narrative is about having perspective in life, and hope… and humour!

Where can people connect with you?

I’m on Linked In: KarlPerry

Instagram: thekatalystguy

Twitter: @TheKatalystGuy

The book is available on Amazon as a paperback and on Kindle. I’m aiming to create an audiobook over the next month.