Reblogged from Jim Webster, aka Tallis Steelyard:

As I continue to work towards telling the story of Hindle Walbarrow I find I must also bring a somewhat lesser figure to mind. I must allow the light of history to illuminate, briefly, the unworthy face of Trastin Leer.

It must be confessed that somebody who lacks any pretensions to wit or original thought labours under a handicap if they hope to make a living through their literary endeavours. Obviously it is not a problem I have personally experienced but I have seen others striving to overcome it.

Trastin Leer springs most immediately to mind. He had set his heart on becoming ‘a writer.’ In and of itself, this isn’t too difficult to achieve. One merely has to write. Trastin was adequately literate so in theory might achieve this. Unfortunately he wanted to be a successful writer, defining success as ‘making enough money to live on.’ This is, in all candour, a far higher hurdle to clear. Still he was set on his goal.

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