Bill Anderson – Is there Life after Politics?

My short sojourn into the political world ended on 16th June of this year. I left it with a degree of disappointment, but at the same time, without many regrets. I left my university teaching job on leave of absence, but at the moment I am still waiting for word to return to a teaching post.

So, what have I been up to? In 2013, I started writing and in 2014 published my first Novel, followed by the second in the trilogy by the end of that year. By mid 2016, I had started on the third part of the Trilogy, but gradually work, and politics took their toll and the said third book lay in mothballs for several years.

In the meantime, I did manage to publish a couple of books in the style of memoirs of my experiences in local politics, but this was really not what I wanted to do. My real interest is in novel writing, but you need to be in the right frame of mind and have un-cluttered time to do it. By 2017, I had already stepped onto the political treadmill, and it neither offered me the time nor the inspiration to continue writing.

That takes me to the post election period of June 2023. Finally, I had time again, and few distractions. My computer keyboard sprung into action. By mid July I had a new novel written. It will be launched in the coming weeks, but it was part of my catharsis. It is a political satire, wholly fictional, of course, but a lot of fun to write; extremely irreverent, with all suggestions of political correctness thrown out of the window. My ‘test subjects’ have questioned whether it really is fiction, at all. I can confirm it is. It is not for the easily offended or the overly politically correct. The sequel is already in a final draft, and then I have had the time to finish the elusive finale of the Trilogy.

It’s not the same as having a real job. Making a living out of writing is not an easy thing, if at all possible, for most of us. A hundred thousand sales would make it worth it financially, but it’s not that easy.

So, is there life after politics?  Most definitely. And you know what? It’s a lot more fun than playing cat and mouse with half wits, going cap in hand to people whose abilities you don’t really value to beg for favours in the name of the general public. Life after politics is improved enormously by not having to attend 5 hour urinating contests in council chambers where no one listens to anyone unless they wear the same coloured underpants, where any suggestions are threats, and decisions are more about egos and names plaques on statues than they are about sensible management of public funds.

A job with a salary would be nice, but having time to indulge myself in writing hasn’t been bad.