A NEWLY published Dorchester author who turned to writing in his 70s says he is delighted with the response to his first book.

Mike Joslin, 78, attended a book signing session at the county town’s Waterstones store and was ‘agreeably surprised’ at the number of people showing an interest in his work.

His book, Fragments of Reality, boasts a collection of human interest stories and verses covering a range of subjects.

Mike said the response at Waterstones and generally since the book was published at the end of May had been very positive.

He said: “I was hopeful but I am realistic about my chances in the literary world, especially being a first-time writer.

“But I was very agreeably surprised. We nearly sold out of the supply of books that they had got in so I loaned them some to keep them going.

“It was a nice mixture of people as well, friends as well as tourists and other people I had not met before.

“It was very pleasant and a nice experience.”

Mike, who has lived in Dorchester for over 30 years, was given some vocal support at the book signing from town crier Alistair Chisholm.

After a varied career in a range of jobs and locations all over the world, Mike turned to writing his first book after getting involved with a creative writing group run by the University of the Third Age (U3A).

He said: “I just enjoy writing so it’s a lot of fun and I never expected too much from it.

“I have written the odd short story or amused myself with a bit of poetry over the years and when I joined the U3A about two or three years ago I started going to the writing group and I think it’s been absolutely fantastic.

“We have got a super group of people.”

Mike said the secret to his writing was keeping it natural and not trying too hard.

Mike said: “There is an awful lot of pretentiousness in writing and if I ever gave anybody a tip I would say just write, don’t stifle yourself getting lost in the process of writing.

“I think perhaps people get carried away with the writing process and trying to be grammatically correct and all that but I think if people have a good story to tell the language isn’t as important, as long as it’s understandable.”