Travel emails evolve into book

By Linda Muller - Redlands Times

It's the sort of book you can read over a few beers.

A few Drops short of a Pint sprang from a series of emails author Chris Dowding sent to friends and family while living temporarily in Ireland in 2001.

'I used to send emails home and a few friends said I should turn them into a book. This is the result,' he said.

His efforts won for Chris the 2007 IP Picks Best Creative Non-Fiction Award and has also prompted Chris to continue to write. He has already started another book.

Educated at Redland Bay Primary and Cleveland High Schools but now living at Marcoola on the Sunshine Coast, Chris said his school English teachers 'never liked' his writing, something this honest account of Ireland now makes a mockery.

'My wife and I went to Ireland like most people go to England. We wanted to live in another part of the world but not where there were lots of Australians. It was challenging,' he said.

Chris writes about the little things, like having no car and using public transport, setting up a bank account, gaining a job and the 'social environment'.

'It's very social. In Ireland, work is there to pay for lifestyle. The pub is the centre of the social village and the meeting place. I have so many memories of what happened but it is easy to forget all the details. Now they're always there,' he said.

The book took Chris about four years off and on to write and included some courses in memoir and travel writing.

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