Janis Pegrum Smith

I attended St John's School from 1977 – 1982. It is often said that your school years are the best days of your life, I am not so certain I would go that far, but my memories of St John's are extremely happy ones packed full of firm friendships, many of which I retain to this day. I also have some very great teachers to thank for inspiring and encouraging my love of writing, and literature, and my passion for history; Mr Dellar and Mr Saunders particularly stand out in my memory. I was also hugely involved with the PE department, regularly representing the school in hockey, netball and athletics. Academically, my time at St John's was a challenge, despite obviously being extremely bright, I constantly frustrated my teachers who were always putting 'could do better' on my reports. What we did not know at the time is that I am dyslexic, a condition little recognised back then. Despite my struggle with words, the staff coached me through to achieve a respectable 8 'O' levels. I left St John's at sixteen with a place secured at Queen Mary's College, London to study engineering. However, thinking I knew best, I decided that I was fed-up with education so, despite there being three million unemployed at that the time, I decided I would go out and get a job. My mother made me a deal, that if I found a job before I was due to go to college in September, then I didn't have to go (she was most certainly hedging her bets that with three million jobless, I would stand no chance in securing employment). So, I put on my best dress and set out armed with the plan to knock upon the door of every business in Epping. The travel agents I was aiming to approach first was closed for lunch, so emboldened by the fact I had come this far I summoned up all my courage and went into the business next-door. I had no notion of what they did, I just walked up to the reception desk and asked if they had any jobs. I left there an hour later with an offer of employment, the manager admired my pluck so much that he created a job for me, and thus I began my working life as a Service Clerk for Pump Maintenance. I was with the company for eighteen months before becoming old enough to realise my childhood dream of joining the Royal Air Force. In October 1983 I left Epping and took a train to Lincolnshire where basic training led me to becoming an airframe mechanic. My association with the RAF was only brief as within a year I left to get married, and returned to live in Epping.

Back in 'Civvy Street' I went to work for Mitsubishi Trust and Banking Corporation as a trainee foreign exchange dealer, which was my father's profession at the time. After three years of working in the city I left to have my two children and become a full-time mother. I had always had a passion for writing and began to write more now I had more free time. I attended various writing evening classes, mostly in screenwriting for films and produced a number of novels and screenplays, though, never had the self-confidence to attempt to get them to an agent or approach a publisher. After a brief, exciting time living in Dublin I moved to Cambridgeshire and as my children grew and needed me less, I returned to work via volunteering for the Citizen's Advice Bureau. I qualified quickly as a generalist advisor, and then specialised in domestic and substance misuse, which lead to me working in prisons, and with street outreach community programmes amongst the vulnerable and homeless. I also found myself working with dignitaries and celebrities at charity events. I trained as a counsellor, and also as a homeopath at this time. I was soon offered a paid post within the organisation, becoming the deputy-manager of Mildenhall Citizens Advice Bureau, and then manager of that branch. Throughout this time I was still writing, and finally in 2011 I was persuaded to submit a short story for publication in a national magazine – from that moment I have never looked back, I published numerous short stories, and some magazine articles before writing and publishing my first major novel More Than Gold. Although initially approached by a publishing company to write More Than Gold when I saw the percentage of the profit the publisher was going to be taking I decided to start my own independent publishing company and publish myself. With the great advances in publication technology, e-readers and print-on-demand it is not only possible nowadays to publish yourself independently, but it is by far the most fashionable way – with major authors leaving their established publishing routes and publishing themselves. It gives much greater artistic freedom and realises slightly more profit for the author, in a business where margins are getting smaller and smaller. I am now a passionate indie publisher and author. My publishing company, Wilton End Publishing, has published two more of my works; a romance Marigolds in Her Hands and the first in my new fantasy series The Book Ark: Black on White. Through my work as an indie publisher I was approached to become an indie book reviewer for the Historical Novel Society, and am very proud to now be the assistant editor for the HNS Indie Review section. Being an independent author/publisher is very hard work, but greatly rewarding. I do a lot of work with my local school, the Iceni Academy, as their author in residence, and even sponsor an annual award called the Janis Pegrum Smith Word Snottor Cup, awarded to the child who has shown most advancement in their storytelling and love of literature('word snottor' being an Anglo Saxon term for a gifted storyteller).

Currently, I am busy with national book signings and writing the next The Book Ark Novel – Children of the Universe, as well as preparing to release a book of my collected short stories In Short and Thus Far. I am also hoping to write a new historical novel next year, too. Undoubtedly, my time at St John's helped shape the person I am and equipped me with life skills and a knowledge base which has helped me throughout my life to achieve all I have. I am extremely proud of my old school and know a lot of my friends are, too, and I know we all left the school with far more than exam certificates to show for our time there. I am very lucky in that I see every day as an adventure, and embrace all life throws at me, for St John’s undoubtedly laid some very solid foundations within me which I have been able to build upon and achieve my dreams. If you can dream it, you can be it, you just have to be prepared to stretch yourself far enough and reach for it.