N is for Natasha - Blogging from A to Z April Challenge

So this is where I get to be totally self-centred and tell you a bit about myself. That's me to the left :).

Natasha means 'Natal Day' or 'Birthday' and according to Wikipedia (which we all know is always right) is supposedly traditionally given to girls with birthdays around Christmas. I didn't know that part, but it makes sense, since my birthday is in December :).

These days I'm an author, but I didn't start that way, in fact at school I was mostly a scientist  I've always had a bit of a creative side though, as shown by my A-levels: Maths Physics and Art. However as far as career and education goes I'm mostly an engineer. Thank heavens for my sister who edits like a pro or you would not believe my eclectic use of commas :).

Before Uni I did a year out as a student apprentice with British Aerospace Space Systems, who then sponsored me through Uni, so I worked for them every summer. It was during my year out that I met my husband, Rob; he was an apprentice there as well.

At Uni I studied Computer Systems Engineering, for which I earned a BEng and then I did a PhD to do with the pattern recognition of handwriting. This was a few years ago before every device you carry around in your pocket could do it ;).

After that I went into a career of software programming, web and database design; I'm still pretty handy with SQL. My brain seems to work well for complex database queries and plots, which I suppose makes sense in a way, both are about getting all the information out at the right time in the right place :). The web design and programming are very useful when maintaining a web presence.

I worked for my last company for nearly ten years, but then they made the whole of the digital department redundant, which is how I became an author. I have always loved to write and have been publishing online in the fanfic arena for many years, but being a real author was a dream I never thought I would have a chance to pursue. I have 22 eBooks out there, 4 novels and the rest short stories or novellas in multiple genres, but I am very much still in the struggling author stage. I am very lucky that I have a wonderful husband who is supporting me as I try to find success in this difficult area.

My twin sister and I started up our own small publishing company Wittegen Press to publish our own books because we wanted a coherent advertising platform for our work. It has been a steep learning process, but very rewarding. The community of other authors out there is wonderful and very helpful.

So that's a little about me; I'd love to know a little about my visitors in comments.

If you would like to see what all of my posts will be about in advance, click here to see my theme post.
My twin and I are also doing the A to Z Challenge over at our fantasy erotica blog: http://fantasyboysxxx.blogspot.co.uk/