J.M.Carr

Janette did not like writing at school. 

Reading wasn't a lot of fun either.

Scratchy pens or blunt pencils and boring reading books put her off.  She'd much rather be out on her bike.

 

Janette grew up, her name grew down and Jan remembered how much she loved a good story and wondered what it would be like to write one. But for a very long time, she believed that she'd never have enough imagination.

 

Until she discovered the truth. 

Which was that she did.

In fact, she had too much!

The secret was finding a nice pen (or a nice laptop) and actually writing. She may not have had much of an idea before she began, but as soon as she did, the ideas came and it was as if she was telling herself the story.

It was brilliant! It still is.

 

There weren't many books in Janette's house.  So the main reason she learned to love stories was being taken to library every week by her mum.

Libraries are great for trying out books and finding ones you'll love!

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Since discovering her imagination,  Jan has written novels and short stories. Now that the teacher is no longer listening, she also loves to read them aloud.

You can hear her read one here.

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Jan lives in Southampton UK, with her husband, who's also her technical support, a border collie called Cindy, a goldfish called Melbourne and whoever else needs a place to stay at the time. Her four children are grown up now and she's very, very proud of them. 

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She's been a teacher and a community worker. She's organised family events, street parties and events for other writers. For some years she volunteered for The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and won a beautiful blue bowl for her efforts.

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Jan loves to sing and loves to make stuff, often at the same time time.  She's passionate about social justice and sustainability so, in recent years, has spent more time than she ever imagined she would, marching the streets, sometimes with the dog, protesting against greed and stupidity.

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