You'll find Amazon awash with books about changing your life or, better still, changing your career. There are people who have done it and want to shout about it everywhere. Radio, podcasts, social media are full of inspirational material to get you out of that hole. Then there's the real world where over a cup of tea people bond over their loathing of the status quo. Whenever this common subject crops up, I have to stare at my feet and fidget or maybe fake an urgent need to respond to a text because I have a dark secret: I LOVE MY JOB SO MUCH I EVEN WANT TO WRITE ABOUT IT...

It's possible there is few who wouldn't. Preservation is a natural instinct. We all take pride in our possessions and want them to survive. My work is just an extension of that, but I do encounter the most fantastic and inspiring objects which makes my imagination fizzle. I specialize in metals and quite often dream about them too (Yep, I know....weird). When I began putting some of those dreams on paper in my spare time they eventually became my first novel. The restoration world is one of art, craft, history and science which makes its scope as a background to fiction endless.

My next book is not set squarely in the world of restoration, but it's still all about art. It was Inspired by an Anthony Gormley's sculpture (Feeling Material IX) which I recently encountered (I'm very jealous of the great conservator who got to treat it!). I have big plans for next year to satiate my desire to combine writing with restoration: tonnes more fiction and a blog which will make use of the tricks of my trade. Just let me know if you want advice on how to preserve something in your home. You never know - It might end up featuring in my next novel.

To see more images of the kind of sculpture I work on, please go to www.antiquebronze.co.uk

#Restoration #AnthonyGormley #ILOVEMYJOB #inspiration