After finishing up at Edinburgh University in the summer of 1997, most of my friends were moving on to graduate training positions, or post-grad degrees, or jobs in London. But I wasn’t ready for that. There was only one thing I wanted to do. I wanted to get as far away from Scotland as I […]

So it’s March 1998, and I’ve just moved to the other side of the world to be alone for a year. To allow myself to feel what I needed to feel, and to write, free from any distractions. I’ve found a room in a house at 34 Story Street in Melbourne, Australia, and I’ve decided […]

In the end there is only one place for me to start – in the middle. In January 1999, I was 23 years old and living in a shared house in Parkville on the north side of Melbourne. I’d been there 10 months and had spent most of the time writing a screenplay about what […]

It’s tempting now to look back on certain decisions I have made in life and try to rationalize or explain them with the benefit of wisdom or hindsight. But where’s the fun in that? I don’t regret anything I’ve ever done, and that includes those moments where I put rational thought to one side. This […]

When I moved to London in May 1999, I was planning on being there for a very long time. I was about to start a post graduate diploma in English law, which would have led to me qualifying as a barrister within a couple of years. But then Kristy showed up, I spent a summer in […]

When I was a spotty teenager longing to meet a girl, I would sometimes picture my wedding day with my future wife, and think about it being the best day of my life. That it would be fun and memorable, and romantic, and hilarious, and that all of my friends and family would be there […]

There is a framed photograph on my desk of me in Austin 16 years ago, surrounded by my best friends from high school and university. I’ve just lost a game of soccer, I’m hot, I’m jet-lagged, and we are all exhausted. But I’m so very happy. When I first lived in Austin, in 1995, I […]

In April 2001 most things were going well. I was back living in Edinburgh, some of my best friends lived there too, I was happy to be married, and although I was still working as a temp, I was working at the Scottish Parliament. I was only with the Parliament for about a year, but I was involved in some […]

The summer of 2001 had started well for me. I had just finished a successful stint working with the Scottish Parliament, and I had accepted a new job, perhaps my dream job, working as a mediator in Edinburgh. Kristy and I had just returned to Scotland from a two-week vacation in Chicago and Kansas City, […]

The third month of the year in Austin, Texas is synonymous with one thing – the South by Southwest Festival (SXSW). A lot of locals seem to hate it, but I think they just get annoyed by the traffic congestion and the crowds of people. You can’t hate the fact that some of the best […]

Very few people thought that it was a good idea for me to get married so young to my first real girlfriend, after we had only been together for 6 months. While ultimately they might have been proved right, I don’t regret it. It didn’t work out but I’m a better person for it, and […]

In March 2004 I was unhappily single again. I had no profession, no future, no money, and no purpose. I remember one day I was waiting to cross the street outside my office building at 15th and Congress and a girl approached me, walking in the opposite direction. She asked ‘Don’t I know you?’ I […]

I was still living in Austin in January 2005 but I was ready to leave. I’d been involved in a few projects that had either failed or not achieved the success I was hoping: namely, my first marriage, managing indie bands, making music videos, and making wedding videos. My day job was working as a […]

I have to come realize that I have lived most of my life under the pressure of self-imposed deadlines. This writing project is a perfect example. I didn’t have to do this. But for some reason I set myself the ludicrous goal of writing a chapter a week for a year. I’ve enjoyed doing it, mostly, […]

The first thing you learn when you move to New York City is that no one gives a shit that you’ve just moved to New York City. In April 2006, I had been in NYC for about 5 months, but I still wasn’t settled there. I had just started out as an attorney, and I […]

I was in love with Farah from the beginning, but I remember the moment that I decided I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. She and I were standing together, waiting for the lights to change so that we could cross a street in Edinburgh in September 2005. And then she […]

There is a chance that in writing this chapter I might give the impression that being a trial lawyer in New York City is somehow glamorous. It’s not. Or at least it wasn’t for me. I suppose there was a part of me that was drawn to the concept of being a New York lawyer. […]

It was two weeks before the big trial was due to start, and Reid was about to meet with his expert for the first time in midtown Manhattan. It was a warm Friday evening in August, which meant that most other New York professionals were already at their summer homes in the Hamptons. Such luxuries […]