About me -- detailed version

My name’s Kayleigh, I’m almost 16 and I’ve been writing for two years. (See my post about how I started writing for more on that.) For the past year, I have so set myself on writing as my career that I’m not sure what will happen if I never get published. I have a backup idea though: get a degree in psychology and study English literature and grammar. This gives me two careers to fall back on: consultant (my Dad pointed this out to me) and editor (this is my idea, I enjoy editing other people’s work).

I’ve actually already given editing a go, on Fiction Press. Unfortunately I can’t do this any more because of school. I just entered the French equivalent of High School — Lycee. Yes, I’m French and I live in France. How come I write in English, you ask?

My mom is South African/Dutch and only speaks English. At the age of 8, I taught myself to read English. (I’ll always remember the day my Mom found out. I was reading her newspaper over her shoulder, which she hates, and asked me if I was reading it. I said yes. She was surprised and I felt proud of myself.) Somehow, at some point, I knew how to write English.

In primary school, living in The Netherlands at the time but in a French school, we could choose between English and Dutch lessons as our second language. I chose Dutch.

Aged 11, I started middle school, and we now started another language. This time there was no choice. They had us do a little written test to see what our level was. I got put into the advanced group. Me and this one guy were the top of our group, without any effort. We both loved reading and English was easy for us. (The advanced group wasn’t that advanced.)

When I was 13, we moved to the south of France where I suffered two years of boring English lessons in a non-international school, all the while desperately waiting for lycee. I knew I’d be going to this international school. It was final. I was set on it. (When I make a choice I stick to it.) I got in and–

The English level is still not what I expected. *sigh*

EDIT: Okay, it’s not that the level isn’t what I expected. I realized, just now, that it’s more the fact that we’re not doing ANY creative writing that annoys me. We write essays on short stories, poems and plays. Once or twice we’ve been asked to do some creative writing.

Anyway, that’s enough about me, now for my family. My parents aren’t divorced (and I doubt they ever will–they love each other and us kids too much), I have a younger sister and a younger brother. I love my family very much and I would pretty much die/kill for them. My brother is the stereotypical annoying little brother, but he has his moments where’s very nice. As to my sister…

Ah, my sister. She may be three years younger than me, but we might as well be twins. My mom was convinced that when I hit adolescence, I’d hate her and ignore her. Here I am, almost three years into adolescence and I love my sister more than ever. She’s one of my best friends. (My other best friend is like a sister to me, though.)

Now, I’m off to curl up on the couch and watch X Factor with my beloved family.

-Kayleigh