u for 2019Updating my biography – probably the first time I’d done it since I started blogging in 2011.

My theme for 2019, in keeping with the A to Z’s tenth anniversary, is flashbacks.  I’m posting from the seven previous A to Z Challenges I’ve done.  Here’s what I said about my biography in 2017.

Updating my biography (2017)

… was a topic I promised when it came to J for Jemima.  But Tuesdays used to be when I did haikus and I promised some during the A to Z Theme Reveal.  I like doing haiku, although the craze has passed, perhaps.  I wonder if I can do my biography as a haiku?

Tales of fantasy

Drawn from a scientist’s pen:

Jemima Pett writes.

You know what?  I can write haiku.  That jumped straight out of my head onto the screen in beautiful 5-7-5 scan. It does encapsulate my past, although maybe I’m a technologist rather than a scientist.

Updating my biography – v1

Horsey Cut 1978

Jemima once felt she could do everything she turned her hand to. Eventually she grew out of that a little, and learnt that while talent is one thing, hard work and dedication are the key to doing something well. So now she merely thinks she should try to do anything that comes her way, and continues to struggle with her writing, her drawing, her singing, her golf, and a dozen other interests, all in search of perfection.

The benefit of these struggles is that she has a vast store of knowledge about a wide range of odd things.  So when authors are told to write about what they know, she has at least tried most of the things she writes about. Surfing in the seas of Viridian C2? No – but body boarding in Indonesia, yes.  Mining asteroids? No, but she has been down three or four different mines, and has a theoretical knowledge of drilling technology and what works in a space station. Guinea pigs running castles and building flying machines? Second hand experience of both.

She also knows what it takes to become a successful author. She’s still working on the hard work and dedication, and most importantly, accepting criticism.  But it hasn’t stopped her yet.

Updating my biography – v2

When Jemima Pett discovered the words ‘portfolio career’ she realised she was an example of a new trend – having not only a number of different jobs, but in totally different fields. These included social work, business management, computer technology, environmental research. The thread running through all of them was communication – and that continued in her spare time with writing and editing club magazines, manuals, reports… Jemima loved words, and loved to learn, and to apply her learning to the real world.

Eventually the world just wasn’t big enough, and so she went back to inventing her own, as she had as a child.  First came the Realms, a feudal England run by prince in castles who just happen to be guinea pigs – although you can read them as people equally well.  Then came the Viridian System, a planetary area on the outskirts of known space where a frontier mentality mixes with big business and tourism.  Her next project could be anything from a D&D fantasy type world, to a children’s picture book about the real adventures of guinea pigs. The world is her oyster – now there’s a good name for a planet!

So there you have it… two versions of a new biography. Comments and gentle criticisms welcome!

first published 25th April 2017

Tales of fantasy Drawn from a scientist's pen: Jemima Pett writes. #atozchallenge #haiku Updating my biography Click To Tweet

Update

In fact I did yet another version as a result of the feedback I got that year.  I’m currently talking about how I spent my time drawing fantasy islands… and nobody needed a fantasy island designer, so I got into other careers.  These days, I suspect there’s a role for fantasy island designers in games technology.  But it’s a really hard industry to get a break in (as my illustrator knows), so maybe I’m better off writing them. And designing whole new universes!

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for the complete set of Princelings of the East ebooks (open worldwide), plus another prize for a UK winner. You can enter at B for Bravo!

U is Updating my biography #atozchallenge
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2 thoughts on “U is Updating my biography #atozchallenge

  • 28 April, 2019 at 1:16 am
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    Like that photo of you sailing up Horsey Cut on the Norfolk Broads. I sailed up there in my teens – well, given the narrowness, probably towed or poled up it. A cousin of mine – Aubrey Buxton, the naturalist – lived beside Horsey. At least your careers had a theme, whereas mine was more eclectic: journalist, photographer, farmer, grocer, and video producer.

  • 29 April, 2019 at 3:25 pm
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    I didn’t feel they had a theme until the environmental stuff brought them all together… then I was a very strange beast because I’d actually done all these varied things!

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