I write books as a passion and I am glad enough to earn a little amount of money with it as well. My name is Peter Armstrong and I'm 26 years old. I am one of those kinds of people that never had proper friends and I've lived a lonely life so far. The only things that has supported me along my life for 26 years so far are my parents and books. When I have a book in my hand, it always gives me a smile to my cheeks, that’s exactly why I started writing books. Also with my parents I am really grateful to have such great ones for a few reasons. One, they supported me at all times especially the times when I had a tough time at school or any private times. It was always great to be able to have 2 people I could trust in hard times. Another reason is because they are currently helping me make a living. I am living with them in the same house I grew up in, and they are being kind enough to pay for all my big money needs. I know that I’m a grown man and should make a living with my own job but for now, until I get a boost and become a worldwide bestseller author I will carry on living like this. The truth is, to become a bestselling author is like Japan winning the rugby world cup for me. This is because I have lost all my confidence. See, every weekend so many of the non-famous authors gather in a gym of a school in London and sell all the books we wrote. I like selling books to people who want them but these weekends but they have also been some of the worst experiences in life. Much tougher than when my only friend abandoned me and went off to a different friend or when my mighty Uncle Brine passed away at the age of 52. It was tough seeing my sold books lying around the benches, inside the rubbish bins and so many other locations. This wasn’t just one or two days, it was every time I wrote a book. This just proves that none of the people buying my books actually enjoyed reading them and it’s just simply awful. After seeing all my books thrown out, there is no way I can again dream to become a worldwide bestseller.

I have asked so many people to tell me why exactly my books are unenjoyable, but they never give a good answer. I even went to Goy Gimson, the top of Giraffe books publishing U.K. But all he said was “all your books are boring” and he sent me out of his office. I also tried to read my own stories over and over again, but I personally believe that my books are all Harry Potter quality.

My weeks go past very slowly unlike everyone else. So the weekend feels like it is months away but when it comes it is very exciting. This weekend at the amateur author’s book selling party for the first time something crazy happened. One customer I had never met before came and bought all 23 of the books I have written so far. I followed her around for a while after, and believe it or not, she didn’t throw away any of my books! She not only made me a few dollars but she made my whole week colourful. That gave me a boost for writing stories and I started to write another book and another book and another.

This week flew by and now it is the weekend again. This week though, I have something that is very special for me. A handshake party with all my fans. As soon as the doors opened for the handshake party, thousands of people came rushing in to find who they wanted to shake hands with. Every author around me had queues and queues of people while I had no one lining up in front of me. It felt like a whole group ganging up on me and bullying me onto the ground. I looked like a fool sitting there looking bored. I was just wishing for anyone to come, anyone was fine. Then as I was looking down at my shoes trying to stop tears bursting out of my eyes, I heard a lovely soft voice. The soft voice said “are you Peter Armstrong?” I couldn’t trust what I was seeing, a fan came to me! She continued on with what she wanted to say, “I love all your books you write!” As I carried on talking to her and having a casual conversation, her face seemed quite familiar. Then the thought popped into my mind. It was the person that bought all 23 books of mine last week. She started to introduce herself, “I am July Ripson, 24 years old and I used to be an amateur author just like you now, but I gave up after a few years when I had to actually start to work and get some money to live.”

I thought this was a great chance so I asked, “what did you think of my stories?” Her answer finally satisfied me with “why” my stories were boring. She said that my stories were too simple and the backstory wasn’t thought out well enough, like a piece of rushed work. July’s explanation was very  clear, I was amazed. I could sense talent in her. I started to dream about all sorts of stuff, as I do all the time, thinking about if I work with July Ripson, becoming a worldwide bestseller may not be a dream anymore. But I struggled to ask her whether she wanted to help me to reach my goal as it was nerve racking… Meeting her twice in 2 weeks I thought again must be a miracle, I made myself as confident as I could and opened my mouth.

“Would you like to help me write books from now on?” Her answer was super straightforward. “Yes.” She answered straight away without thinking as if she was waiting for me to ask her. So that is how July Ripson and I started to work as work mates to reach OUR goal of getting the award for worldwide bestselling authors.

The following day we started our fun but tough journey. We decided how we’re going to write our books, I write them and July edits and makes it as much as her talent allows. Our first few books weren't big hits in the weekend amateur book selling parties at all. But after another book and another book and another, I started to notice something changing. Where in the past, only an average of 5~6 people came to buy my books, now there are an average of 9~10 people at the least. This may seem like a small step but for me it was a big step into my authorhood.

One early morning, when I was checking out the papers for the day, I found an article that caught my eyeballs. It read, “Tips for young authors to reach the real Harry Potter level”. I read through every single word that was in it and got millions of ideas for myself.

Firstly, instead of writing 2 or 3 crappy books each week, make 1 good one in 1 or 2 months. I remember how Ms. Tapson, my year 11 english teacher said, “don’t rush any work, just take your time, it will be much better.” Also, the article said some similar things to July. For instance think of a creative story so that I can hook the readers. I got very excited to start up a “good” piece of writing so I called up July Ripson to do it. We sat down and discussed story ideas for hours and hours until the sun went down and time was up. At the end, we thought about something relating to our own life in anyway possible. One thing we both had in common in our early lives was that we got bullied a lot. So we finally decided to write a heartwarming story about a kid getting bullied and his life. It took me around 50~60 days to finish my story, and it moved onto July’s hands. She only took 4 days to edit, proofread and flash up the story. Not only is July such a great human being who has a great heart, she is also an efficient worker. We both added parts of our life examples in, and made a book that all our effort, power and time was put in. We both decided to name the book, “Someday I will smile” as we were both never smiled at in our childhood much until we met each other and joked around.

The exact day we finished was March 26th. We sent it off to where Goy Gimson is, Giraffe books publishing U.K. July and I must’ve waited for 2 months until one day a mail came from Giraffe books publishing. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, I was in shock. Shocked that a book I wrote is actually going to get published and sent to all the book stores around U.K and the rest of the world. The mail carried on saying, the whole company disagreed on printing so many books and shipping so many books all over the world but one person argued for such a long time to make “Someday I will smile” worldwide. That someone was Goy Gimson. He thought our book was that good. That was why they were so late to let us know whether it was going to get published or not.

It is certain that I wouldn’t have made a book this good without meeting this lovely little lady named July Ripson. I went straight over to July’s and we partied our heads off until another day passed. But the thing that amazed me even more was a mail I got a year later again from Goy Gimson. The second I read through the mail, my eyes turned red and tears came bursting out like a fountain of all sorts of feelings, tough feelings I lived through for my 27 years of life but mostly good feelings after meeting July Ripson. The mail informed me that our book, “Someday I will smile” has become the worldwide bestseller book for 2009. My goal since I was a kid had just become reality. Anything is possible even if it sounds impossible at first, so Japan will definitely be able to win the next 2019 rugby world cup!

Once again I went over to July’s and we partied our heads off for the second time. I am sure that July and I will carry on writing books that will entertain and move all the readers' hearts as long as we live. None of the remarkable landmarks I have hit over the past year and a bit would’ve been possible without the company of July Ripson. It’s been a year since we met at the amateur book selling party and I still haven’t got an idea how to thank July Ripson enough to this day. I guess this just proves that success is never usually achieved alone!