Who am I…? How do we even begin to capture who we are in a couple of lines….well here goes…
I’m a 48-year-old mother of 2 daughters, a deaf arthritic spaniel, 3 unidentifiable fish and 5 chickens which give our house an extraordinarily high female to male ratio save for my fire-fighter husband; and life always seems insanely busy. My favourite colour is purple, I love elephants, I think tea is the solution to most world problems, I am a lioness for those I care about, and a scared rabbit at the same time. I am the tallest short person in the world, I believe maths is the fundamental basis of everything, I’m ambivalent on marmite, I have government security clearance and I can’t whistle for toffee. Amidst all of the craziness, I seek respite in reading and writing, and feel the need to continually absorb, learn and become a better me.
I first started writing about twenty years ago in the early days of my career as an air traffic controller – a wonderful and unique career, but one where the only writing outlet was confined to the odd number, dash, code or acronym on the small strips of paper that represented each aircraft I spoke to in a day. There was no need for complete sentences, and even the spoken language was prescribed and exact to ensure global consistency. Whilst there are many skills required to be an air traffic controller, and arguably creativity is actually one of these (!), there is no real outlet for art, expression and the beauty and freedom of nuanced language.
My urge to write initially spilled out, somewhat unexpectedly, in the form of children’s poetry, long before I had littles of my own. I wanted to add a truth to the fantasy of children’s literature, to let the minds run free but incorporate a basis of science and learning to the stories. I wrote about colours which led me to research these extensively – the world of colour psychology still fascinates me to this day. I wrote about chickens and bumblebees, puddles and rainbows, families and foreign cultures, always weaving in what I learnt as there really is nowt as strange as the truth – I mean who knew bees have stinky feet?
Life got in the way many times, and my writing took several hiatuses (hiatii?!!), but I always came back to it, and it evolved. After a severe period of illness I used writing to help me recover, and when I donned the obligatory running shoes of the 40-something mid-life mum, again I wrote of my experiences. I studied a Masters degree and wrote an academic thesis, and as my own children were born and grew, I scribbled down more poetry every now and then. When I decided cold-water swimming was a good idea and started jumping into freezing water in January I thought that was worth a musing or two. In later years, social media has become an outlet for expressing these things to a certain degree, and I think it is this that has given me the confidence to start sharing some of my writing. A double-edged sword indeed, but one I am prepared to unsheathe!
Although I’m a scientist by ‘trade’, my soul lies in the written word. Whilst I search for truth I embrace tales and myths and legend as therein lie truths of a different shade. My passions centre around the endurance and optimism of the human spirit, the dark beauty of all corners of the world, enjoying the stories of others’ lives whether taking part in them literally or understanding them vicariously. I’m fascinated by the exploration of psyche, the contagious power of positivity, and the sharp and acutely observed simplicity of little people. I have spent the last year training as a coach, and have learned ever more about the human condition. All the writing on here is intended to inspire, but also to have an authenticity. I am a hopeless optimist, and I want to pay that forward in some small way. Thank you for visiting this page, and I hope you enjoy some of the tales I have to share. It’s time to pull up a cushion, grab a blanket, put the kettle on and join me. Click on each of the ‘inspirations’ to read more.
Lots of love
Emma x