5 Little Known Facts About Me
- I was born in the United Arab Emirates. My Dad was working out in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, and my parents moved over there for a couple of years. The day they flew out, they discovered that Mum was pregnant with me. My Mum’s parents flew out for my birth and stayed for about a month. In 2001, I went back out there with my Dad, on my way to Singapore and Australia, and we found their old flat, and the hotel where my Grandma would drink triple gin and tonics at lunchtime (that she thought were singles) and wonder why she felt tipsy.
- I have a weird obsession with spreadsheets. Whenever I’m faced with a problem, I usually decide that the best way to deal with it is by making a spreadsheet. Every story I’ve written has a spreadsheet. As does every story I’m ever going to write. I find it impossible to keep going if I don’t know where I am, where I’m going next, and what else needs to be done. Admittedly, they do change hugely once I’ve started writing.
- When I was twelve, I read Tamora Pierce’s In the Hand of the Goddess fourteen and a half times in two weeks. Then it had to go back to the library. Some time later I bought my own copy, and have read it many more times since then, along with most of the others in the series. When I was younger, I really thought that Alanna and Jon belonged together. Now I see that she made the right choice. Being old and sensible is boring.
- One day I’m going to learn to speak Welsh. When we moved to Wales, I was almost nine, and all the other kids had already been learning for years. No one really bothered trying to teach me any Welsh until I hit secondary school. I’d just started to get into it when I had to choose my options. Welsh clashed with Drama, so it got cut. Now I can only speak half-remembered phrases and mistranslations. My Mum teaches junior school Welsh, so I can understand it at around that level. My Grandfather was a Welsh speaker, and so is my Uncle. And one day I’ll learn too, even if only a little bit. On the other hand, I did do my Paleography and Codicology coursework at university in Welsh; we had to make a book and then fill it with text of our choosing, written in a certain script. I chose a Welsh text; it was harder to see the errors that way.
- This morning I went to the Post Office and sent my query and sample pages for Saving the Unicorns to a selection of ideal agents. I feel very courageous about it, too.
1 comment:
Neat stuff Katy! Coincidentally, my DH would also like to learn Welsh. I think it's to complete his background set (Granddad was from Edinburgh, Gran was from Chester). Another freaky connection is that DH's stepfather worked in Dubai back in the late 80's. Very small world.
Query in the post already? Way to go!
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