Wayward: Fetching Tales from a Year on the Road is a hilarious and heartfelt ride around the world, wherein the author eats dog, obsesses about chewing gum, gets stranded on an island, does dirty things, reveres rock n roll and muses about everything from death to Star Trek to the President Obama to jail time. Now available on Wattpad, Wayward has been a surprise hit at both iTunes and Amazon, reaching #1 on both retailers' travel charts. It chronicles a year in the life of the author, who lived in 12 countries over 12 months, one month at a time. It's kind of funny, kind of sad and kind of weird. Forbes describes the book: "Wayward isn’t strictly a travelogue or a guide by any means. The book reads like a diary, with chapters dedicated to everything from watching Obama’s inauguration in an Argentinian bar, to viewing a dubbed version of the newest Star Trek film in France and trying to understand the plot despite not speaking French, to remembering the ecstasy and pain of his first love just before breaking up with his then-boyfriend in Berlin, to eating dog in Vietnam, to his experience working with Patti Smith in New York. Gates’ lively, conversational writing style bring all the disparate pieces together for an engaging, enjoyable read."

THIS IS JUST A SAMPLE OF THE BOOK. THE COMPLETED BOOK, ALONG WITH BOOK 2, IS BEING PUBLISHED BY HACHETTE IN SEPTEMBER 16 AND THE SEQUEL SHORTLY AFTER. The new, publishing version is fully revised and with brand new content. I'm so so excited for you to all read the new and improved version! Thank you SO Much to everyone that read the original completed first draft here on Wattpad and helped me shape it into the revised, extended and edited version that will be published and in STORES NEAR YOU this year. :D xx Jamie Cole has had a hard life and has just been let out of jail for murder. Before he went to jail Jamie ran with the local gang, upon his release he's determined to go straight but will the leader let him? One more job is what he's promised but this one job seems to be leading to two, then three and he's not sure he'll ever escape his old life. He meets Ellie one night at a club, she's just broke up with her long term boyfriend and isn't looking for anything serious which suits them both. Jamie finds himself drawn to her and now he has another reason to change, she knows nothing about his past and he wants to keep it that way.