Ways to fame and fortune - or not in my case

Occasionally I feel like throwing my radio against the wall while having breakfast. I listen to the Today programme. It's understandable.

Usually it's because of John Humphreys' ego or his incessant interruptions; more often than not it's because of Jim Naughtie's waffling and failure to ask the guest a question.

But today it was something different. I'm sorry, I just get frustrated when I hear about other people's success with their books. And it's not even those in JK Rowling's league which bother me; instead, it's those whose first books get published.

Take today for example. After several months of samizdat copies of an apparently seriously funny book being enthusiastically read by and appearing in a short article in the Metro (including by a producer who wants to film it), the book in question gets published. To great success. Apparently. Or at least it will now it's received coverage.

And meanwhile I tout mine around, with increasingly realisation it's ever going to make the grade.

Why can't I have luck like that?

Then again, perhaps mine's just crap.