In yesterday’s post, I promised to explain the totally catchy “The Adventures of a Misplaced British Numberphobe” title. Yes, that’s sarcasm. No time to edit during NaNoWriMo!
The Format
Will not be groundbreaking. The date of the event followed by a description of the event, probably in that weird present tense that such books often have (and I like).
The Title
The Adventures – “Adventures” always sound exciting
of a Misplaced – (1) I’m English, but my mother moved us from England to Cyprus when I was five years old. I’m not sure where I really feel like I belong. (2) I work in the Forex industry (which I still don’t entirely understand even four years later) Involves a lot of numbers. I am not good at numbers. (3) At school, and now at work, I am one of very few who prefer to stick to speaking English. Even though I’m quite fluent in Greek.
British – Biologically, I’m 50% English and 50% Greek. Physically and audibly, I come across 100% English. My native English speaker skills in writing and grammar (in addition to my writing, journalism and teaching experience) are essentially what I was hired for.
Numberphobe – It’s not so much that I don’t like numbers. It’s that I will never understand them. As mentioned above, I work in the Forex industry…. if you know as little about Forex as I did the day of my interview, let me be the one to inform you that it involves currency exchange (forex = foreign+exchange) and a whole lot of numbers. Luckily, my job as a content writer and proofreader is to focus on the words.
Some Background
I went through school mostly known as “the quiet English one.” That’s what happens when you’re shy and the only English one in your class. (Back then, I have been informed, non-Cypriot kids actually weren’t allowed to enrol in local schools, which was why I wound up in a private English school. Great news for me, not so great for my single mother.)
After school I embraced my love of writing and words to study Journalism and Creative Writing and learn to actually use them professionally.
After that, and for the years in which I failed to find gainful employment, I took a CELTA teaching course and did that for a while. (You may remember they were all the rage for a while.)
Now my job as one of the two content writers in my company is to play my part in writing our marketing content, proofreading other peoples’ content, and generally being an English expert to anyone with a random question. This book will consist of my (hopefully) humorous anecdotes from four years of doing that.
I hope you enjoy the ride!
Lauren's Playground 