ON WRITING

Writing is something I've been doing since before I can even really remember. I joke that I was born with a Library Card in my hand, but it's not that far off. Storytelling has been probably my favourite thing since I was born - it's something that's fascinated me, supported me, cradled me, healed me, soothed me, frightened the crap out of me (thank you Mr Stephen King, for writing the awesome & awesomely terrifying IT!!),

I've been read to since I was pretty much born, and I've been "reading" since I could make up words to go with the pictures in story books! I was reading the Enid Blyton Boarding School books to myself when I was about 8 or 9 years old.

Then I upgraded to Agatha Christie's Poirot by the time I was maybe 10, reading them to my little sister (5 years my junior) with the accents and everything from the ITV David Suchet TV Show.

A Patricia Cornwell gem found in the book stall section of the Harvest Fayre held in my former primary school, the October after I left, started me on an entirely new - yet similar - reading trajectory. I came across Body of Evidence when I was nearly 12 and was fascinated by it. Incidentally, a double-book of The Scarlet Pimpernel & Around The World In Eighty Days at the same time - it was a good day for books there! The first time I tried I read it, I didn't understand it - so I kept it safe and came back to it when I was 13, already getting bored with the Point Horror, Point Crime, and Sweet Valley High Books I was drowning in. Once I read it This Time, I was hooked -- and Forensic Science would forevermore hold a First-Class Place of Importance inside my head. It still is, almost First & Foremost the most prominent "Special Interest" in my little Autistic head. All because of that one book I bought on a whim...!

I was 12 years old when I first read Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. Since then, I am comfortably into Double-Digits as to how many times In have read it. In comparison, I may have seen the movie three times at the most - well-made, perhaps, but bares Zero Comparison to the gorgeously incredible Novel Itself. I've been a Big Michael Crichton Fan since then. His strangely under-appreciated novel Airframe is my absolute all-time favourite -- even beyond Jurassic Park; it's the catalyst for my Air Crash Investigation (A show aka Mayday) gleeful obsession. The forensic science & engineering expertise, knowledge and genius that goes into undertaking genuine AAIB/NTSB etc Air Crash Investigations is beyond fascinating and uses all of my favourite things at once -- Science, Engineering, Computers, Data Analysis, Forensics, Puzzle-Solving, Problem Solving, Investigating & Data Collation.

I have been collecting books since I was a small child; continued to do so until my bookshelves were so full I could literally house no more... But Then The Kindle Came Along, and I managed to build a New Collection online. Apart from a few Important Books and my Patricia Cornwell set, I do not own actually that many books anymore; instead they're all on varying eBooks platforms, with the Majority on Kindle.

Stories have been my Salvation, my friend, my constant, throughout my life. They've been though so many guises, too -- Books, Movies, TV Shows, Audiobooks, Musicals (Disney Movies included here). Even Games. The stories told fuel my very soul and keep me sane and happy.

A PERSONAL BIO

I feel like I am Two People... One Before The Ultimate Line was drawn in the sand, and the one I am Now... AFTER. 

So, firstly... Hi! I'm currently (obviously) Person N0.2. I have FND, Fibromyalgia, Hemiplegic & Vestibular Migraines [aka Migraine Variants], Von Willebrand's Disease [aka VWD], C-PTSD. and some other random illnesses & medical conditions.
I'm Paralysed and a full-time wheelchair user. I live with a Magnitude of Chronic Pain, Chronic Fatigue, and Brain-Fog. All these things hits on, triggers, and flares up the worst of my Autistic Sensory Overloads and other traits, all of which seem out of control because of it all, also causing a toilet-roll list of Phobias, fears and Overwhelm.

But it wasn't always like this. Before this, I was a very different person, Living In London, with a successful career that was about to go from Great to Unbelievable. 

Then, Twelve Years Ago, everything in my life changed forever, and it became this.

Before...

Before FND, Fibromyalgia and other illness, loved Performing & Dancing, and performing Musical Theatre; trained in Performing Arts at BTEC L.3, achieved Grade 5 Classical & Grade 7 Musical Theatre Guildhall singing exams, and appeared on West End stages [with former performing company Star EFX]. Was also a gigging Cabaret Artist around North Wales/North-West whilst at college, and a singer-songwriter.

Was an Advanced Horse Rider & Yoga Practitioner. Loved walking gorgeous Staffy/Greyhound/who-the-hell-knows mashup doggy for miles and miles.

Professionally, formerly an IT Consultant, specialising in Data Quality Analysis for Database Migrations, as well as Database Admin and general Data Analysis. Proudly working for large, multi-national & worldwide Private Corporations, as well as the NHS in a specialist London hospital.

Before that, I started my adult career life as an NVQ 2 Qualified Care Assistant & NHS HCA. I even had an 18-month stint as a retail assistant in a London Souvenir Shop on Whitehall, by Trafalgar Square (my favourite job until the IT stuff...!) -- and even worked as a waitress and bar staff in a pub when I was 18.

In 2013, developed Severe, Complex Fibromyalgia from Pneumonia. I became severely disabled, so had to move away from beloved London back home to North Wales.

I had to give up my career, my life, and everything I'd worked hard for, for over a decade, virtually overnight. I was barely into my 30s, and my life as I knew it was effectively over.

During this time, I also discovered I was Autistic, diagnosed in 2014... Aged 33. At Last... Three Decades of Struggling Hell was explained, and at least some of me and my life... Finally. Made. Sense. [!!]...

I had immense, unbearable, uncontrolled Pain, left without proper medication, and effectively ghosted by the entire NHS in two countries. By December 2016, I was left paralysed and struggling with staying lucid and conscious from the agonising pain.

In 2018, I was hospitalised for Septicaemia & Sepsis. I managed to acquire not one, but two (yep, TWO!) Blood Poisonings [Staph-AND-Streptococcus!... Go Me...]. I fought for my existence, and ironically, finally obtained the pain meds I so desperately needed to keep the Fibromyalgia under at least some control... So, going to hospital effectively saved my life in two ways.

Unfortunately, I did nothing but deteriorate from the minute I ended up with this infernal medical condition, and I've acquired several more, henceforth, as quite severe complications.

Nowadays, I can barely move around, virtually bedbound most of the time... and Super Mega Fatigue doesn't really make things easy. But, luckily, my two favourite things - Gaming & Writing - do not actually require much movement at all, and my fingers might creek, but they do kinda still work, so I do them when I can instead of normal everyday other things - and then I call that A Win.