So, I'm Jay. And no, I'm never anywhere as bored as I somehow manage to look!

 

First things first. I was born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1987, and was educated in and around greater Johannesburg. Having roots in the UK, I moved to England in 2007, and then in 2009 - favouring the Caledonian side of things - settled in Scotland. My home has been Edinburgh since 2013 - my one true love, truth be told, and the most beautiful city in the world despite the fact that I'll always in some way long for the Cape Peninsula.

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But to back up a bit . . . when did the writing begin? Well, pretty much since I could hold a pen, I think. As a kid, I never stopped creating characters and worlds and story-shaped scratchlings for my own amusement (and that of the occasional favourite English teacher). The turning point - the big moment when I realised I wanted to WRITE, or "Be A Writer" - came sometime in 1999. That was when an epic game of Lego with my brother got out of hand. Suddenly it became clear that a world and story had evolved into something more complex and exciting than the play-mat could contain. It had to go somewhere else. It had to be something else. It had to be given the chance to be shared with someone else.

 

So the choice was simple: ditch the Lego and start writing or, quite literally, lose the plot! If anything, I suppose, that's when I started taking it seriously, and to see myself as a someone who Writes. If not for a living, then as if it were. Until it could be.

 

Nearly twenty-five years on, I'm still writing in the hopes of sharing worlds, no matter what. I believe I have captured a world that has been growing steadily with me. And it's satisfying to realise that what's been growing, in spite of all its many growth-spurts and changes and mutations through the years, can still be traced back to that afternoon in `99. Technically.

 

Having said that, however, it's only now that I'm ready to share it with readers that I feel a journey has truly begun in that world.

 

Nothing would make me happier than your taking it with me.

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JC

Edinburgh 2023

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