BooksChatter: ☀✉ Secrets of a River Swimmer

Thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for Secrets of a River Swimmer, a Literary Fiction by S.S. Turner (8 February 2022, The Story Plant, 258 pages).

Don't miss our guest post by author S.S. Turner, "My Journey to Being a Writer".

PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis and the Kindle Cloud Reader Preview below.

Author S.S. Turner will be awarding a $50 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Please do take part: comment on our post and follow the tour where you will be able to read other excerpts (☀), interviews (ℚ), reviews (✍) and guest blog posts (✉).

|| Synopsis || Teaser: KCR Preview || Teaser: Author's Guest Post || About the Author || Giveaway & Tour Stops ||

Synopsis

As Freddy gazes at the majestic river gushing past him in the depths of a Scottish winter, he's ready to jump in and end his life. But what happens next is not what Freddy expects. From the moment he enters the river, Freddy starts a journey which is more beautiful, funny, and mysterious than he could have imagined. And through this journey Freddy's story becomes interweaved with a cast of unforgettable characters who are equally lost and in search of answers. Eventually they all unite in their quest for an answer to the biggest question of them all: will the river take them where they want to go?

In the tradition of inspirational works of fiction like The Alchemist and Life of Pi, Secrets of a River Swimmer is at once a profound exploration into living with meaning and an affecting story of people on the cusp of change.

Teaser: KCR Preview

"My Journey to Being a Writer" by S.S. Turner

I don’t believe you become a writer. It’s more like you grow to understand you always were a writer, and you gradually stop fighting it. That’s how it was for me anyway. Even when I was a teenager at school my English teacher told me I should pursue a career as a writer after one of my short stories made him cry. I remember thinking at the time that one day I’d like to think about becoming a writer, but then life took over as it does. I had to make an income, make some mistakes, and to live my life for a while. 

But my writing was always there. I wrote short stories, novellas, children’s stories, comedy newsletters, and film scripts in my spare time. And in every job I’ve ever had, I was asked to write on behalf of the teams I was in. I discovered that writing is unnatural for most people, so I was happy to be able to help with it. In hindsight, I now understand what was actually happening was I was going through a writing apprenticeship of sorts. I needed to learn about writing through my career and all the experiences my personal life presented me. And I also needed to live enough life to allow me to create meaningful stories. There’s no way a twenty five-year old version of me would have been able to write stories which connected at a deeper level. Those stories need time to brew inside your soul.

So for me the journey to being a writer is practicing your craft whilst you live your life. When the time is right, the writer inside you will reintroduce itself, and you’ll know it’s time to write that life-changing novel.

Secrets of a River Swimmer
Available NOW!

About the Author

S.S. Turner has been an avid reader, writer, and explorer of the natural world throughout his life which has been spent in England, Scotland and Australia.

Just like Freddy in his first novel, Secrets of a River Swimmer, he worked in the global fund management sector for many years but realized it didn't align with his values.

In recent years, he's been focused on inspiring positive change through his writing as well as trying not to laugh in unfortunate situations. He now lives in Australia with his wife, daughter, two dogs, two cats, and ten chickens.

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