About

Who is Sam and why am I doing this?

These are two questions I seem to ask myself on a regular basis! The answers also change on a regular basis, so I what I write here today is can only ever be reflective of my current view. I have been writing for many years (spoiler alert – this is one of those typical stories about first developing an interest for writing at school!) starting with a love for English Language at primary school where I often competed, very passionately, to be the last person standing during a spelling bee and being set apart from the rest of the class (alongside another classmate) to read The Hobbit as the teacher wanted to give the both of us something more difficult to read at that age. This love continued in secondary school where I started selling poems to school friends to write in their Valentine’s Day cards to whomever was the “flavour of the month” at that point. Whilst studying for A-Levels, I vividly remember an English Language and Literature lesson in which the teacher called me out in front of the class for spelling “definitely” incorrectly. It took me a while to recover from that; come to think of it, I’m not sure I ever have recovered given i remember it so well! At University, my wiring experience became mainly centred around writing lengthy dissertations often with what felt like such a rigid structure that it led me to want to get back to expressing myself through other means when I started my working career, writing about my daily commute, my favourite bus route – writing on the bus, writing in my lunch break, writing in the park – pretty much everywhere I could!

Then life got in the way and writing and I had a temporary separation. She was always at the back of my mind, gently cooing at me, but I ignored her for far too long until I started working at a consulting firm which meant I would spend days away from home each week, staying in a hotel where I did not know anyone else. It was at that point, I invited her (writing) back into my life. Fast forward slightly, a previous work friend told me about a storyteller competition which I reluctantly entered. I didn’t win and wasn’t expecting to but it did mean I had completed the tasks of self-publishing my first piece in 2017. Then, I just let it sit there, too scared to tell anyone about it! I knew it wasn’t my best piece of work as I had rushed it towards the end so I could complete it in time for the competition deadline. I was scared of being judged by it, criticised for it and even being blamed for wasting people’s time in having read the book in the first place.

Nearly four years later, with a little encouragement from some people around me, I have decided to throw myself out there, be my authentic self, sharing my authentic story and hopefully encouraging others to do the same through the medium of writing and freedom of expression.