L - Living

People always talk about living life to the full, but a shocking amount of people don’t. All I hear is what people want to do, but if you want to do something, today is the day to start. Not when you’re older, or wiser. Want to do something? Do it now.

G - Goals in Life

Though many of my ambitions were far from realistic, amid the wistful thinking there was always one thought, standing strong despite being buffeted by every word that made me feel worthless, every teacher who looked at me like I was stupid. The word ‘author’ has been swimming around in the sea of my thoughts for years now. It’s only gotten stronger since my teachers started praising me and I met people who love the craft like I do and love what I do with words.

F - Family and Friends

I am gifted with a family that if I could, I would choose. That said, I’m only including my immediate family in that, seeing as if I could I would boot a few of my extended family members out into a different universe, and then turn them into goats or similar avatars that they couldn’t cause trouble with.

E - Emma

Whenever I grumble about my name, I’m assured by the nearest person that Emma is a perfectly nice name. Of course, they’re called something like ‘Natasha’ or something normal, but not very common. They don’t understand the annoyance of your name being called out by every stranger, making you freeze in mid pee in the toilet, or turn to look at someone, who gives you an embarrassed look and waves over your shoulder.

I may get to be named after a Jane Austen novel, but I could also have been named after a Spice Girl or any assorted person on the planet. Of course, to every teacher who reads the class roll, my name is unusual.

D - Darcy

We all have a name that could have been, a list scrawled in messy adult handwriting that could have been our label, our calling card. For me, it was Darcy. My mam is a big reader too, and had I been born a boy, Darcy (Mr Darcy) from Pride and Prejudice was number one on my parents’ list.

B - Books

I could preach all day about how wonderful books are, and I think I may do just that! I started reading when I was quite young, beginning my journey with the usual suspects, the Famous Five, Secret Seven and the Five Find-Outers. I loved those books and the sense of each chapter adding new pieces to the puzzle, followed by the final revelation, sometimes accompanied by an excited ‘I knew it!’ from my end. My path followed quite naturally then to Harry Potter, which had the same sense of a ‘mystery’ that had to be solved. I followed Harry through the corridors of Hogwarts, longing for my own four poster bed, my own owl, my own spell books and the cushy armchairs in the Gryffindor common room, or perhaps the magnificent view of the grounds of Hogwarts from the airiness of Ravenclaw’s tower common room.