The Road to Jugoslavia and the Road to Touba, fact and fiction.

For some time I have been aware that during the Bosnian war, perhaps because my focus was more on Rwanda, that I did not fully follow the events or understand them. In fact it is scary how one can live through so many historical events and be scarcely able to recall them. So it has been very useful to have some background information on the whole situation in the book I am still reading - Eastern Approaches - by Fitzroy Maclean. My own ignorance as I vaguely knew that parts of the WW2 had been fought in the region, but I had had no idea that prior to Tito uniting the country there had  a) been virtually continuously fighting to try and regain autonomy and independence from various colonial rulers and b) that in effect during the war the Partisans were with the Allies (once they had cottoned on that these guerrilla fighters were an asset) and the Cetniks - their fellow countrymen - were helping the Germans by in effect being at war with the Partisans.  No wonder when it all kicked off again it was so bloody, that part of the world has had a much longer and more troubled history than I had realised.

When I came out to Kyrgyzstan I brought a little project with me.  My draft novel The Road to Touba.  Using my experiences in Senegal as a starting point I had written it just before moving home as part of the Nanowrimo.  I cannot remember who introduced me to Nanowrimo, but I know that my nephew has had a go at it, so one day hope to see him in print, and because I find the discipline of writing so difficult thought it a good idea to try as the idea is you spend November just writing and those who succeed in writing 50000 words get a tee shirt and the pleasure of knowing that they have delivered. I can't remember why but I did not get the tee shirt, I think one had to be in the states, but I did do the word count.  So since getting here whenever I have had time at the weekends I have got the book out and tried to revise it.  About a month ago I figured that I was done and tried working out how to upload it to Lulu.com where I published my other books some time ago. But the system seems more complex, but today I have finally and it has taken me all day published it. No sooner done than I noticed two typos! Also for some reason there does not seem to be a nice cheap download version, I guess ebooks have taken over so I will need to spend another day trying to work out how to do this, but that is something that I need to sort out another weekend. I hope that people will buy it and like it.  As my blog shows I like to write but managing the process is not always easy.  Anyway it is my first novel I just realised today so exciting really. click here to find your copy - hopefully