Salutations, internets!
My name is Katie. I’m a twenty-something student at the University of Edinburgh, reading Classical Studies. I’ve been blogging on and off for around seven years now, but since I am now reaching the point in my life where attempting a serious career in writing has moved from ‘what I shall do when I grow up’ to ‘what I’ll be doing when I graduate’ to ‘what I’ll be doing in a year or so’, I’ve decided starting a proper writing blog would be a very good idea. So here is an introduction to me!
My Studies
I’m reading Classical Studies, which is effectively Classics lite Classics without the language requirement. My main area of study is cultural history. Occasionally I accidentally wander into sociological and cultural history and flirt with archaeology. These are dark times but sadly necessary for a well-rounded education.
My other main interests are classical literature and reception studies. When it comes to the former, my personal favourites are Virgil’s Aeneid, Aeschylus’ Oresteia, and basically everything Catullus and Sappho ever wrote. Reception studies – looking at how classics has impacted on modern literature and culture – is the chosen area for my fourth year dissertation, so expect to hear more about that. And yes, if Classical Studies is Classics lite then reception studies is Classical Studies lite.
My Interests
I’m a big fan of fantasy and sci-fi literature. I was a voracious reader as a child – I went through a phase of challenging myself to read a book a day, it went better than you’d expect – but sadly university tends to eat up my pleasure reading time of late. Check out my Goodreads widget to see what kind of books I’m reading, but in brief: my all-time favourite book is Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman; my all-time favourite author (and subject of the aforementioned dissertation) is Diana Wynne Jones.
Outside of books, I love Doctor Who, both current and old school and BBC’s Merlin is my favourite guilty pleasure. I’m currently watching How I Met Your Mother, Community and Legend of Korra; regarding shows that are not currently airing, I eat up everything Joss Whedon has ever produced, plus Being Human and, naturally for an ancient history student, I, Claudius. I’m currently almost finished re-watching Avatar: The Last Airbender and I’m planning a review of it, so stay tuned for that; I’m also working my way through various CBBC shows from the 90s, so look out for that too.
When it comes to films, I’m the kind of old-school, unoriginal nerd whose favourite film is Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Other than that, I love animation, including Disney, Dreamworks’ better stuff, and less mainstream films like Belleville Rendez-Vous and The Secret of Kells.
I love to bake, particularly cupcakes, though I’ve recently discovered a passion for loaf cakes. I have a box full of collaging supplies tucked away in my wardrobe that is, as of a fit of procrastination, very nicely organised; this will probably last until I actually want to make something.
My Writing
I generally say I’m primarily a fantasy writer, but in reality I hover somewhere between fantasy and science fiction. My fantasy tends to have a sci-fi edge to it and my sci-fi is generally dipped in fantasy. I have, very occasionally, written stories set in the real world, but not very often. I have fantasy on the brain.
I’ve been writing more or less continually since I was ten years old and I was inventing stories for a long time before that. At present I have two novels on the go plus short stories in various stages of writing and editing. A handful of my short stories are at the submission stage. I’m hoping to get a few more to that point by the end of the coming summer.
I sometimes write poetry and I’ve tried submitting that a few times as well, mostly because there was nothing to lose. I can’t say I’m much of a poet. Although perhaps I just don’t know it.
I’ve recently moved more into non-fiction writing and I’ve worked as a reviewer at the Edinburgh Festival in the past. I’m hoping to get some reviewing done here, since I have thinky-thoughts on most of the things I watch/read and no-one to share them with!
My Career
Comes 2013, I’ll be graduating university. After that my intention is to go into postgrad, either creative writing or research classics; in the long term, I hope to be able to make a living off writing fiction some day. At the moment I’m hoping to get a job in either publishing or journalism – at some point I should probably make up my mind!
My Politics
I’m a queer-feminist-socialist-atheist internet slacktivist. Hurrah! Being an internet slacktivist naturally encompasses opposing all -isms everywhere, but in practice the issues that are most dear to my heart are sexism, heterosexism and heteronormativity. More specific issues like the death penalty, censorship – particularly internet censorship – and, for some reason (I’m not really fussed about animal rights the rest of the time), battery chicken farming are also instant-rage buttons for me.
Expect occasional rants on any of the above topics.
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I’d say that’s probably the best summary of me you’ll get in under a thousand words or so. My life at the moment is mostly eaten up with my studies, with occasional breaks for internet usage and to spend time with my friends (who for mysterious reasons are almost entirely physicists or computer scientists; no, I don’t get it either). I enjoy flat parties and dinner parties, sometimes the right sort of pubs, and very occasionally night clubs. I’m the stay-at-home type of student – I need a lot of sleep to function!
I’m hoping to keep this blog updated semi-regularly, so stay tuned!
somesuchlike 