Hi... I'm Amanda
You may have spotted a new name on the blog a couple of weeks ago, on the post about handwritten letters... me! Stuart thought I should introduce myself properly to you all, so let me tell you who I am, how I know Stuart and what I do with my life.
I'm a writer. It still fells weird to say that, but since I have two published books to my name and another umpteen written, maybe it isn't as pretentious as it feels... though it still feels horribly pretentious to say it! I used to be a university lecturer, teaching physiology to medical students (and before that, science students as well). For those of you who don't know, physiology is not the study of fizzy things (though I did once tell someone that it was - but that's perhaps a story for another day); it's the study of how the body works.
But for well over a decade, alongside lecturing, I was also writing books. A few years ago, I decided to ditch the well-paid lecturing job (with great pension) and earn absolutely sod-all as a full-time writer. Fear not, thankfully I have other income, otherwise I would have been the proverbial starving artist in a draughty attic somewhere!
It's through writing that I know Stuart. We were both part of a Twitter chat one evening and found out that neither of us had a writing buddy or anyone giving us writing advice/ feedback/ sympathy/ support/ a kick up the jacksy (delete as appropriate). Tentatively, we swapped a chunk of our current work in progress and then gave each other feedback. The rest, as they say, is history. It became apparent very early on that we have a similar outlook and attitude to life and as well as being writing buddies, have become good friends. I may even have made him fall in love with stationery so much that he bought a stationery company...
As well as now writing on here, I have a blog dedicated to my writing life (which you can find at https://www.amandafleet.co.uk/) and another where I witter on about stationery (which you can find at http://paperpensink.blogspot.com/). I'd be delighted to see you at both of those places, too.
As for the pretentious bit... My first novel was originally called The Wrong Kind of Clouds, but was re-published as The Call. My second novel is called Lies That Poison and is a psychological thriller. Later on this year, I'm aiming to publish a fantasy trilogy, called Guardians of The Realm.
When I'm not writing (whether that's books or about stationery) I can be found out running or walking, doing the garden, or baking.
