Douglasdale gains an author

Tucker said he had always been passionate about writing. “As a child I wrote short stories, probably no more than 500 words, though, best believe, no protagonist ever lived beyond the third paragraph. I didn’t even plan on publishing a book at a particular age, but rather thought it would happen when the time was right.”

The young author stared writing, Don’t Judge this Book by the Cover last year and said the page turner took about six months to complete. “The time consuming part is actually looking for material that is funny and relevant to the reader,” he said.

The book pokes fun at the South African way of life and focuses on politics and policies, such as black economic empowerment.

He said when he started writing the book be decided to self-publish it and went in search of a distributor. “The distributors, who did publish books as well, read through the book a few times before offering me a publishing contract. If I have to be honest, it took me a few weeks for it to set in that someone believed enough in the book to want to publish it,” he said.

“I am observant, always looking at people and the things they do. And when you group together small pieces and start noticing common threads, it pretty much becomes an invitation to poke fun at those idiosyncrasies,” Tucker said when asked where he gets his motivation from.

He said a lot of his material was inspired by the antics of government officials. “The moment I feel a Herculean bout of writers block coming on I simply rush for a paper and scan it for the latest government trick. Truthfully it’s an endless flow of material. And of course, there are also the people around me and their silly antics that I write about.”

Tucker added he was an avid reader. “It’s the tool one requires in order to be able to write, well so they say. I also collect red wine, which I invariably gulp down before it can be dubbed a collection. Movies and dinners are on the list, especially when it’s with someone special.”