I thought when reading other sites that these introductions look more professional when written in the third person. In the end, though, sitting at my desk, writing about myself like a rock star biography I just couldn’t do it. So, hello and welcome to my About Me, in the first person.
After being born in Hull in 1983, growing up there and graduating from University I jetted off to Japan at twenty-one in what was a whacky adventure for six months or so and then, of course, became increasingly less of one until now, when the day-to-day couldn’t be more mundane if I’d never left HU5 and the NPower call centre. The love I have for my hometown hasn’t brought me back yet, but who knows. I have kept myself busy though, so a little about that for anyone who doesn’t know me:
During my time in Japan I have taught English at all levels in Tokyo, Chiba and Okayama, settling on high school as it stands, as well as being a language advisor for a TV drama production on Natsume Soseki and doing various minor roles in media. I’ve also done some sports journalism at a regional and international level, reporting on MMA events including One Championship and Shooto.
I went back to the UK for a year and got my MA in Creative Writing in 2009. I have been writing seriously ever since then and whilst it has taken a backseat in terms of urgency to other, more time-limited passions it has remained my number one. I enjoy writing short stories and also have some future projects in various stages of planning but my main work is a novel, Into the Empty World, which I’m confident is very close to reaching my potential. Getting it traditionally published and widely read is my life’s ambition.
Outside of writing, having been frustrated in my attempts to kick a ball straight I decided at a young age that despite my love of football, team sports were for me to watch and not play. By happy coincidence it turned out that in combat sports, if you keep turning up to train then even a little indie-kid dweeb can get reasonably good, so after a long climb up to an acceptable level I was a pro MMA fighter for ten years. After coaching in Thailand for 6 months and improving my level in the UK for just under a year I had a final crack at it before retiring with a respectable journeyman record of 10-9. Highlights were co-headlining Road FC in Korea, two tournament finals in Pancrase and two title eliminator defeats in ZST. They don’t call me the Nearly-Man, but if they did it would be hurtfully accurate.
Inspirations and influences probably take up much more space than I have, and of course come from different places than just books. I love music, live and recorded, reading (almost exclusively literary fiction) and pretty much all genres of film. Have a quick gander below at my favourite books and albums for an idea of what I’m into.
