James Collins
James has been living and writing in Greece since 2002. He lives with his partner on the small island of Symi where they have a photographic shop and art gallery.
Words
Since moving to Greece, James has concentrated solely on writing words rather than music, though he does still improvise on the keyboard. He first started writing stories as early on as he can remember, and has been trying to get it right ever since. Currently he is turning his fingers to screenplays but has also written award winning lyrics, books for musicals, and erotica, as well as novels and travel books. He has also written corporate plans, business plans for theatre companies, and housing strategies for local authorities, but let’s not get into that ‘writing as a job’ area. James prefers to stay in the unprofitable world of fiction writing and films.
Music
James learned to write music on the piano when he was six years old. When he was seven, he discovered manuscript paper, and his parents were a lot happier. Since then, he has written cantatas, the first at age 14, revues, musicals, choral works, piano pieces, cabaret songs, and lots of other bits and pieces. He can sometimes be seen playing live piano on Symi, and sometimes can be heard practising the clarinet and oboe, though not at the same time.
“He watched the aperture of the young women's lovely face close ever so slightly and felt a pang in his heart.”
“As long as you were comfortable with yourself and believed in yourself, then you could just throw out all that nonsense of worrying about your status and "success" and other people's opinions.”
“When two people are in love, they are parrallel lines. That intersect. Together but seperate. Infinity.”
“One of the odd things about living in an apartment was that you could walk out of someone's life but still have to wait for the elevator. (p.220)”
“Well, then,' said Peter, 'I guess we'll just have to find a cab.' Peter said this in the manner of a cowboy telling the womenfolk that, because of the avalanche, they were going to have to take the pass through Indian country. In fact, as Holly and Peter both knew, nothing could have been easier than finding a free cab, for at this hour they flowed steadily down the avenue. But if Peter were to regain some face by wrangling one, the fiction had to be kept up that this would be a challenging task.Will you try?' Holly askedSure,' said Peter. He stepped off the curb, raised his hand, and a taxi pulled up in front of them about five seconds later.Thank goodness!' Holly said.”
“You cannot fulfill a purpose; it is like a guiding star on the horizon- forever pursued but never reached.”
“If you look over to see what the beautiful young woman sitting next to you is reading, and it turns out to be a book about angels, then you can with perfect justification refuse her entry into your life.”
“Life without love isn't living and living without loving you haven't yet truthfully been alive!”