Books.

I've always been 'bookish'. I was above the top group in reading at primary school (not boasting) and I got told off quite a lot for finishing the book just as we were starting it in English class at Secondary school. I always had so much to say and nobody else other than the teacher knew what I was on about as the others had only just started reading whatever book we were on. I found it hard to be interested in any other subject at school (apart from boys) if it wasn't English Literature.

Words have been my thing for as long as I can remember. Writing and reading. I'd pick out inspirational quotes from books I'd read and write them down on post it notes. I got the piss taken out of me for this from supposed friends during years eight and nine, so I stopped being inspired, stopped eating and started gobbing off to teachers (because books weren't cool, the rest was).

Luckily, I ditched those friends and carried on reading once I'd left school. It's better to read than be 'cool', and anyway... reading is what makes you cool. I'm pretty sure that makes me WAY cooler than some of the losers I used to hang around with.

But I digress.

I didn't bother with university. It wasn't for me. Instead, I carved out my career in the creative industry. I still read books but instead of words, images were now my thing. The industry I worked in had no place for words. Eight years later, I left that all behind to have a baby. I tried to get back in to books but as any mother knows, it's hard to read with a newborn/baby/toddler and when there are a shit ton of other more important things to do like wash/eat/clean.

And now, here I am. About to embark to an amazing journey full of books and words and writing. In February, I start a degree in English Literature. Just this morning, while I was reading Jack and The Flum Flum Tree to Lil for the seventh time, I had a 'WHAT THE FUCK' moment. What the hell am I doing? Going to university at the age of twenty seven with a nineteen month old? Sometimes I don't even have time to breathe, let alone read and write. How am I going to cope? It passed, of course. But this morning it became real. I'm going back to school!

This time, however, I'll be surrounded by people who love books and words and writing. And those people, like me, will be cool.