As you can imagine, we receive many emails at the paper – but this one was unlike any other that I have had land in my inbox. Almost apologetically, I had been contacted by Jacqui Worrall, from Priston, hinting the story of an intriguing local person she had met completely by chance, and I couldn’t help but read on.

One of the best things about creating The Journal each week is being able to tell the fascinating stories of local people and meeting the characters behind them – and T.P. Clements is certainly one of them.

Originally from Essex, Trevor Clements is a furniture restorer, who moved to Canada with his family. Struggling at school due to dyslexia, he describes reading as “my nemesis.” Pulled out of class to be with other children for specialist learning, Trevor began a competition with a friend to look up the most exciting and unusual words they could find.

“I adored words,” he explains. “They are everything to me. But as I got older, it was also my downfall – like being in love with someone you could never have.

“I really don’t like reading – I’m a reluctant reader of a laundry label!”

Trevor began writing in his early twenties, but started in earnest when his daughter, Morwenna, was around seven-years-old and he was in his early forties. His motive was to make sure that she wouldn’t struggle with words as he had done.

After living in Canada for twenty years, Trevor’s life imploded just over two years ago when his marriage of 26 years disintegrated.

Finding himself alone with debts, he lost everything dear to him, including the home with a workshop he was renting, when the owners decided to sell.

Facing free-fall, he made the decision between renting a home or a workshop, choosing to earn a living to generate income and pay off his debts, he rented a workshop on a local farm and slept in his van. Trevor lived within a draughty old metal barn for over a year suffering hardship during the cold winter. In order to shower and make himself presentable each day, he joined the local gym.

Nobody knew or could guess of his homelessness, except a few friends who were sworn to secrecy.

Just as he was about to get back on his feet, Trevor was struck down with sepsis. A week later, he was out of hospital, in the middle of a divorce and finding himself destitute, he resolved to self-publish his book, The Super Girl Seven. It is an adventure story about a group of mis-matched girls who are caught up in an alternate reality full of danger and strange creatures, only to find they are being gifted with individual powers along the way.

He had previously published another novel, Follow Me, but had many stories languishing on flash drives that he had created over the years, too. If you speak with him, he has a constant stream of ideas and many books that are yet waiting to be written – Jacqui and I worked out he may have another ten novels in him! Writing with strong heroines in mind is important to this author, who has also written other, as yet unpublished, stories in different genres, such as romance. He shyly tells me that if published, he’ll be putting this one out to the world under a pseudonym.

Trevor and Jacqui met completely by chance, when his van key was accidentally left in her car after it had been in to a garage for repair; and the two have been friends ever since. Often calling at all times of the day and night to speak aloud his ideas, rather than re-read them from the pages, Jacqui patiently listened and with her support and encouragement, Trevor has finally taken delivery of his second novel. Now Jacqui has offered up her home temporarily as a place to stay, because Trevor’s van, affectionately known as ‘Dennis’, was written off very recently in Mells, when someone accidentally crashed into it whilst he was asleep inside!

Jacqui says: “Re-writing and editing this book has been the thing that has kept him going, driving him on, when many others would have given up on life completely. His is the story of a man completely down on his uppers, but one never ever feeling sorry for himself or giving in. He’s worked hard and received no financial help or benefits whatsoever, but one who made a conscious decision to live in a van for as long as necessary, in order to pay off all debt and regain his self-esteem.

“However, the one thing keeping him going throughout his darkest, coldest, loneliest times in the barn was the writing and editing of his wonderful book and the determination to see it published and people reading it.”

Now that The Super Girl Seven has been released, Trevor is looking forward to promoting the book and publishing more of his works. He is hoping to be able to read his novel in schools; something that will not be easy for him – but feels the compulsion to inspire others who may have dyslexia to never give up.

Recently he was approached by the coffee chain, Café Nero, where he spent many hours during the cold winter months editing his book, to take part in a book signing evening. Working with young Bristol illustrator, Nina Mizrany, he has created something that he is rightly proud of.

Whilst you can read the first thirty pages of both novels via Amazon, Trevor prefers to work with small, independent book shops and the week I met him, he had already had a meeting with Toppings with a view to stocking the novel and also with the Oldfield Park bookshop in Bath, who currently stock it. Many more are planned.

“I’m confident it will sell,” says Trevor. “It’s what literature needs right now, expansive text with an exciting plot line. Whilst I’m not sure whether selling books in great numbers will make me happier, it will certainly allow me to write more. Writing for me is life, it is all-consuming. I’m happy now”.

“You do have to knock on doors and put yourself out there – however Jacqui tries to convince me my personal struggle is bigger than anything I have written!”

“I can’t explain the joy of writing. When everything was going wrong, I never thought ‘why me?’ – there’s always someone worse off than you; somehow you just find the fortitude to carry on.”

Becky Brooks