Welcome to my blog

In this blog, I will:

• Introduce myself
• Give you my entire life history
• Let you know what you can expect to read on here

Welcome to my first blog!

I’m going to give you a little background information about me before we start.

Reading

My first love is fiction.  When I was younger, my passion was solely for novels but, as I have grown older, I have discovered the joys of non-fiction. 

I suspect that both of these things will make an appearance in this blog.  I will be talking about books I have read and loved.  I will not be talking about books I haven’t liked, so don’t be surprised that all my reviews are positive.  If I read it and didn’t like it, it goes to the charity shop and I don’t mention it again.

Fantasy

Although I have quite an eclectic taste in fiction, I always come back to Fantasy. 

There are lots of reasons I love it.  Mostly, Fantasy books are just cool, aren’t they?

I am particularly interested in world-building.  I’ll discuss that at more length later but, to me, world-building is about the connection between the environment, the social systems and the characters, and how they affect each other.

I will definitely be mentioning Fantasy fiction here and analysing some of my favourite books, films and TV shows.

Writing

My professional career has revolved around reading and writing.

I currently work as a Copy Writer for a local company.  Anything they want written, I write.  It sounds simple.  Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn’t.

Teaching

Before I worked as a Copy Writer, I was an English Teacher in a Secondary School.  It was a job I enjoyed in many ways and I’m certainly glad I did it.

One of the reasons I became a teacher – and, ironically, one of the reasons I left teaching – is that I care about children’s education.  That might pop up on this blog a few times, too.  I will try to keep my anger to a minimum.

My history of teaching means that I have an interest in Children’s Fiction (both Middle Grade and Young Adult).  I used to get to call it ‘work’ but now I just have to confess I love it.

Hobbies

It’s difficult to say what a hobby is.  Is talking to friends a hobby?  Is going to the cinema a hobby?  I will talk about these things as they arise and as I try new hobbies.

I love trying new things, particularly creative things and crafts.  I have recently learned how to crochet and am still making my first blanket.  I suspect I will be stuck at the first stage (making lots of little squares) for a long time but, no matter, I am enjoying it.  If ever you want a square crocheted very, very slowly, let me know.

Things I am interested in (which therefore might end up on this blog):

• Fantasy fiction (books, films and television)
• Gender equality
• How to write well (and to audience)
• Representation in fiction (including classism, ageism, racism and ableism)
• World-building for fiction
• Weird stuff you learn about in history
• Education
• Any new hobby I pick up along the way

Let me know what you think

If any of this sounds up your street, let me know!

I’d love to get in touch with more people who want to read fiction, write Fantasy and put the world to rights.

You can follow me on Twitter @AlisonJanetBro1.  Say hi and let me know what you’re up to.

See you on Wednesday

I hope you’ll come back and read my next post, where I’ll be talking about World Book Day and why it’s fabulous.  I’ll also give you a really easy lesson to get your class talking about books.