Jean's First Musings

When my first husband left, he did me a favour really. I went back to college. It wasn’t easy with two young children in different schools and income from maintenance of £18 a week. But it was in the time of grants, not loans, so I was lucky there. After five long years, I emerged with BA (Hons) in Media Studies.

That was a long time ago. I have grandchildren now. And last year I got married again, to my long-term partner. This time I knew what I was letting myself in for. It was sad that my parents were no longer alive to see that. They would have been so pleased.

I have worked in marketing, been both employed and self-employed. Now I’m semi-retired and do a bit of freelance writing and have been published in many UK publications and, more recently, on some e-zines and websites.

In the 1980s I started a novel and would like to get on with it, but I can’t find it. This is strange, and I wonder if there is some significance in it. I’m usually drowning in paper but there is some order in my chaos, and I can normally lay my hands on whatever I need. I don’t have an electronic version of my chapters because I started it on an Amstrad which soon went to its demise, so unless I can find the hard copy I know I kept, I’ll just have to start again. This I’m putting off until my next house move, which I hope is imminent.

The 1980s was also when I first started freelancing alongside my day job. I’m amazed now to find how much support I can get from the internet. I belong to some virtual writing communities and it’s so different from the isolation that I used to work in. There are many more opportunities on the web too, albeit mostly rewarded very poorly. But that doesn’t matter so much now that I have some independent means ie a pension - and a husband.

This blog posting has been very self indulgent – writing about me throughout. I’m sure my future musings will take me in some other directions, but no doubt I’ll do some more remembering as well.