LOCKDOWN prompted many of us to do something new. For Blackburn music promoter and festival organiser Pete Eastwood he used the time to write about his life.

Nine A4 pads, 34 Biros and 260,000 words later and Pete is preparing for the launch of But I’m Different Now with the initial print run already a sell out.

“I have piles of books in the kitchen, I still can’t quite believe it,” said Pete, the driving force behind Blackburn’s highly-successful Confessional Festival.

“I’m not a writer, I’m no good at spelling and I don’t even join my letters up and yet here I am with a book. It’s all a bit weird.”

Pete, who lives in Lammack, decided to use the first period of lockdown to write about his life - from growing up in Blackburn in the Seventies, his lifelong love of music which has seen him meet many of his heroes and become an influential figure in the local music scene and more personal moments including successfully overcoming cancer.

“Initially I just wanted to have something to give to my daughter Emma,” said Pete. “I just went into my summerhouse in the garden every day and I’d write. I never envisaged it being a book which anyone would want to buy but more and more people heard what I was doing and asked how the book was coming along so I thought I’d just get a few published for friends.”

Interest in the project escalated as word of Pete’s enterprises spread and over 668 pages and more than 45 chapters, But I’m Different Now, shares the life of a self confessed ‘Mod with a punk attitude’.

“It’s a memoir rather than an autobiography,” said Pete. “I just wrote about things I remembered. It’s a celebration of my friendships and things I’ve done in my life.

“I hope that people will find something in it to enjoy whether it’s the nostalgia for a special time in Blackburn or stories from a music obsessive.

“It’s still a bit hard to get my head around it but I am really proud to have done something like this.”

Pete is donating a percentage of every book sold to the Teenage Cancer Trust and there will be a launch party at the Hare and Hounds at Lammack next Saturday from 8pm. It will be available from Waterstones and Amazon but copies can be ordered by contacting Pete on Facebook.

“Even if you don’t like it you’ll be helping the charity,” he laughed.