What did you think you were going to be when you were growing up? More importantly, did it turn out that way? If it did then I applaud your focus. When I was at school, I literally had no idea what I wanted to do. According to my school reports, I was bright but lazy. My teachers hated me because I possessed the irritating ability to bump along getting bottom marks for my homework, but then inexplicably come top of the class when the end of year exams came around. Note to teachers: Sometimes lazy people do well in exams because there’s nothing to distract them.
When I left school, I signed up to study Psychology at university simply because it was something I’d never done before and it sounded interesting. I did do (just) more than the bare minimum and graduated with a 2:2 but, you guessed it, no idea what I wanted to do. I fell into driving instructing because it promised a recession-proof income, but I lacked the ambition to put the graft into being properly successful. In despair, my parents dispatched me to a careers advice service, who suggested a range of options including IT. My response was dismissive. “I hate computers,” I told them.
Irritatingly, they were proved right, and I’ve enjoyed a relatively successful career in IT for over 25 years. Luckily, I’ve also found that, while academic study still isn’t my thing, I do love learning new skills. Over the years, I’ve done cookery courses, learned to drive an HGV and trained as an instructor in a flight simulator, to name just a few.
Back to school: the teacher that possibly hated me the most was my English teacher. I didn’t understand the point of literary criticism and, being awkward left-hander, found writing physically painful. My essays were routinely criticised for being far too short and lacking in depth. The irony that I am now a writer is not lost on me!
I’ve put some of these experiences into the character of Jess in Never Ever Getting back Together. Where she differs from me is that she never lacked drive, she just needed the right course and her best friend, Alice, to encourage and mentor her. I had an awful lot of fun living vicariously through her, and I hope you enjoy reading her story as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Pick up your copy of Never Ever Getting Back Together here: https://mybook.to/nevereverbacksocial