Interview with Ed Wood, Author and Runway Founder

Ed, what got you into writing?

I have always been passionate about telling a story. I love reading thrillers – John Grisham, Frederick Forsyth and others – and an idea for writing one has been nagging at me for years, but like many of us I didn’t have the time, or the confidence, to write it.

I went on an advanced writing courses with the Arvon Foundation in the ‘90s and ever since then, it has remained an ambition to get words down on the page.

How did you come to write your first book, the memoir ‘From Acorns’?

‘From Acorns’ came out of a time in my life where I realised it was now or never. I was 65 years old, I’d enjoyed a full and interesting life, and then I had a health crisis which was a bit of a wake up call.

I have four daughters, and two granddaughters, and I felt I needed to get my stories down for them more than anyone.

It felt at first like something of a vanity project – who was I to write a memoir? I’ve had quite an ordinary life really. But I decided to put it all down, warts and all, tragic and funny, good and bad, and to my amazement, readers enjoyed it.

Then I got the writing bug, and I haven’t stopped since.

What was the writing process like for you?

Fun – and bloody difficult! I have always been a very disciplined writer and I enjoyed getting all the material down. Then my eldest daughter read it and tactfully suggested I send it to an editor she knew. We set about improving the book together. Thank God I found Holly Dawson – God alone knows what would have happened if I hadn’t!

And then you started on ‘Lift Off!’…

I’d learnt a fair bit over forty years of running my own businesses - and supporting countless others - and it felt right to put all that knowledge and information together.

I’m passionate about giving entrepreneurs all the help they can get - and making sure they avoid all the potholes I have fallen into along the way.

It is a book about what I do, but it isn’t a memoir – it’s rather more a useful handbook, full of clear steps and exercises and advice.

The name ‘Lift Off!’ came from my years as an avid commercial helicopter pilot. There are so many parallels between getting an aircraft - and a business - off the ground.

Your third book, ‘A Plague of Madness’ is due out this year. What inspired you to write this?

Right at the beginning of the pandemic, with the first murmurings from Wuhan coming out of China, I began a daily diary, charting political developments - and the global sweep of the virus - as they unfolded.

I have always been passionate about politics – my father was a Cabinet minister and I have stood for parliament on two occasions – and, over the last year, my horror has increased daily at this government’s appalling response to Covid, its total lack of common sense, its removal of our freedoms and its quite unnecessary ruination of the economy.

I wanted to publish a record of this unprecedented year that also presents my wider beliefs and thoughts – a third volume of memoir, in a way.

What advice would you give to writers?

Establish a daily discipline. For me, this came from blogs. In 2016, I wrote a blog every single day for a year. The rules were these: any length, any subject, but every single day without fail. 2016 finished with 400 blogs, many of which became material for my books.

There is very little magic about writing – it is mainly discipline, learning and commitment.

What’s next?

Finally, I’m getting round to the thriller that has been nagging at me for many years. More accurately, a series of thrillers featuring Colonel Jim Grant.

The first to appear will be The Pilot, at the end of 2021, followed, over the next four years, by The Accountant, The Politician, The Dealer - and finally - The Lawyer.

And when you’re not writing?
I will never retire! I’m still working with entrepreneurs and small businesses. I set up Runway Advisors in 2019 – a collective of 30 specialists, each an expert in their own profession - which exists to help entrepreneurs to make more money and have more fun doing it.

Other than that, it’s all about family – I live in Spain with my long-suffering wife Katha, our four beloved terriers and a herd of horses and I have four daughters and two granddaughters. I have been very lucky indeed.