JJ from Tea Stains

I’m known as JJ here because when I joined the Novel Racers Jen at Spiral Skies had got there first with the Jen name. Obviously, that wasn’t just the name I fancied, it was my name (alongside Mum, Jenny, Jennifer and a selection of others I’m not quite comfortable broadcasting here). I think I should probably have a nickname that refers to my struggling or hesitant writing inclinations, but those names have gone too. I could’ve been ‘Procrastinating Penny’ if my name had been different…

I’m English, but have lived in Bangkok, Thailand since July 05 because my husband’s job brought us out here. Despite being 6 hours ahead of you, I’m nearly always late for coffee!

I have always read and have always written academically, informally and unconsciously (I pity my poor penpals to whom I would write reams and reams of self conscious rubbish!) I devoured books from the moment I could read and I still do. I believed in the truth of the parent bestowed title ‘the academic one’ as opposed to my sister who was ‘the creative one’ and it took me going mad with small children to say in a small squeaking voice: ‘I think uhm, maybe, that I’m a bit, uhm creative too.’ I enrolled for a part time art and design foundation course and found out yeah, actually, I was a bit creative. That led to doing a full time Fine Art degree (both kids now in full time education) and discovering that my ‘thing’ was making. Making is a bit like sculpture only I feel a bit uncomfortable with such a pompous title. I don’t sculpt or paint, I make. That might sound a bit pedantic, but there it is.

As an adult I have always wanted to write a novel and have started and aborted with boring regularity a variety of projects. I write for a magazine here in Bangkok, book reviews or general articles and for a small circulation family magazine in the UK. While I was at home with small children I wrote and recorded 6 or so ‘Pause for Thought’ articles for BBC Radio 2. The novel racers have stopped me aborting this novel (though I am not always writing it either). It has made me write regularly for my blog (Tea Stains) and has enabled me to realise how important writing is to me.

A break in the UK has stalled my progress with the novel, but I am planning to strip out some of what I’ve got that is in note form so my word count will plummet but hopefully it will help me to see more clearly what I do have.

Welcome to all the newbies that I haven’t yet met – I do hope to get round to all of you soon.