Me and My Writing Journey by guest author Tony Levy

Val Penny ♦ June 20, 2018 ♦ Leave a comment

I am thrilled that my friend and fellow author, Tony Levy, has agreed to join me on the blog today to share his writing journey. Tony, it is interesting to learn about your writing and your books A Turnkey or Not  and El Dorado? No! Heathrow Airport. Thank you for your contribution today.

Me write! You’ve got to be joking, I’m the least likely person to be able to write a book, yet that’s exactly what I’ve done and not one but two and I’ve had both my books published and am now writing my third and fourth books.

Unbelievable or what? My dad sitting up there in heaven must be saying to anybody who would listen to him

‘What him you’ve got to be joking’

Where did this all come from? Surely not from that competition I won back in 1967 when I was fifteen, I wrote about my favourite football (soccer for those of you in the USA) player for my local paper and won the competition. Naw it couldn’t have been that, could it?

Then over 25 years later after spending six months training to run the 1991 London Marathon and failing to gain an entry I entered another writing competition for a International running magazine where I had to explain about my motivation for wanting to run the marathon and all about my training regime, the prize was a guaranteed entry for the London Marathon that year, and again I won the writing competition, was that the spark that started me off?

To be honest it was none of those things, I think there is a book within every one of us but its finding that motivation, mine well mine was a TV program that depicted prison staff as thugs and villains and brought the whole profession into an unbelievable world of disrepute.

At the time I was a Principal Officer in the UK prison service and was so enraged at the programs portrayal of how UK prison staff behaved that I was still raging the next morning at work, when one of my staff who had previously suffered many yarns about what really goes on in a prison from myself and other old timers in the service (I was in my early fifties but had seen over 20years service and was regarded as an old timer buy then), said

‘Tony you really should write a book about your experiences and tell the public what really goes on within the enclosed walls of a UK prison’

‘You know you’re absolutely right’

And that was my spark

I wrote my first book ‘A Turnkey or Not’ back in 2011 and it was published and received some fantastic reviews. It’s an autobiography of my 25 year career working for HM Prison Service.

Six years later I realised that my first book left many unanswered questions and mainly the one about my real quest to find my own El Dorado as I moved towards retirement, and so my second book ‘El Dorado? No! Heathrow Airport’ was written and published in November 2017. It’s receiving incredible reviews; it’s an exposé of what really happens at Airport Security and how passengers, celebrities, staff and management behave at and during the security screening process.

Both books are memoirs and relate some very funny incidents which have all happened to me throughout my life.

But again the end of my second book does not answer my quest to find my El Dorado, so after retiring to live in Spain I realised I had to write a third book as my search had become a trilogy, so my third book is about moving to Spain and living amongst ex-pats in retirement. Warts and all revelations of what my fellow ex pats get up to in the life of Sun, sea and lots and lots of vino.

However I have also now started to write a prequel all about my three year stint as a driving instructor in Central London, this is more like a ‘Carry on’ film as I reveal some of the exploits I used to get up to whilst being a driving Instructor.

About my current book

When I received my devastating cancer diagnosis, far from crumbling, I decided to write my second book, ‘El Dorado? No! Heathrow Airport’. With my background as a Prison Officer, followed by an even more challenging position in Airport Security, I was able to manifest an instinctive response to threats, and it was this that helped me turn a bad scenario into positive action. I’m British born and have created a literary storm with my insider revelations, yet I always regarded it as my job to expose only the truth to my audience of readers.

I reveal many tales about celebrity showdowns and now live in Spain with the love of my life, my long suffering wife Jacinta.

My distinctive style continues to grip readers around the world, they are held captive by my shocking revelations. And once again, I do not disappoint as I reveal all about life inside Britain’s busiest airport, from flight statistics to embarrassing passenger stories, you will one minute reel in surprise, and the next rock with laughter.

As you read on you are drawn into the world of a busy airport the way passenger behave towards security staff is hilarious and sometimes amazingly rude, the staff and how the behave towards passenger and then into the final chapters where you read how management of one of the world’s busiest airports has to balance profit with security and their lack of compassion for their own staff.

The book is full of pathos and laughter and each page draws you into the next as each chapter does the same. 

You can purchase my book here:

https://www.amazon.com/Tony-Levy/e/B006WWECBI

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tony-Levy/e/B006WWECBI

Join me on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/author_tonylevy

Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/tony.levy.5

My e-mail: anthonylevy1418@gmail.com