An interview with myself.
Who are you and what are you doing?
I’m a freelance writer with a dodgy back and a chronic addiction to adventure. My life’s ambition is to hug the person who put full suspension on mountain bikes.
Besides penning this blog, I write features and reviews about, travel, adventure, lifestyle and living expat. My full bio and more writing clips are at traceycroke.com
What’s this blog about?
It’s mainly tales of travel, adventure and challenge from the viewpoint of an overenthusiastic arthritic.
Why are you writing it?
Blogging is people power. It’s the great 21st century social media experiment. And I’m self-indulgent.
Do you make money out of this blog?
I write this blog for enjoyment and I don’t “monetise” it, which means you can read it without adverts popping up to tell you that a rare berry, which has been eaten and shat out by some mythical creature from Atlantis will help you live forever ….or at the very least give you a red hot six pack. For now, I’m not interested in making money from it but I’d change my mind if Richard Branson invited me on Virgin Galactic to discuss a sponsorship deal in space.
What’s your background?
I had a humble working-class childhood in Manchester, UK. I started work at 16. I owned a Coronation Street style house by 18 and renovated it before I was 20. At 30, I’d moved to a bigger house and I had a top-notch job with blue-chip company where I hobnobbed around the bars and boardrooms of London. It came with a gob-full of corporate buzz-phrases, a fast car and a final salary pension. My career and primetime life was going dandy until a degenerative disease of the spine stopped me in my tracks.
Oh no……… what happened next?
I sulked for a while; played it safe, treaded eggshells and life became humdrum. I spent some adjustment time in home decor stores looking at “that’s nice” stuff I had no intention of buying and picking up bargain begonias that had no intention of living. I read Lonely Planets, had dreams of travelling the world and taking on big challenges. I bored my friends senseless with sentences that started with “one day…..” until I had a eureka moment, kicked myself up the ass, cashed in my worthless endowment policy and set off on a 15-month round-the-world trip with husband, Paul, where we both developed a healthy addiction to risk and adventure.
What’s your life like now?
The trip was a life-changer. I retrained as a journalist and moved to Australia where I like to take on harebrained challenges that make my rheumatologist scratch his head in bewilderment. When I’m really lucky … I get a dollop of calamity and chaos in the mix. I still have a chronic spine but I no longer say “one day….”.
All that change must’ve been a big shock to the system?
Yes it was. But not nearly as shocking as dealing with rental agents after owning my own home since I was 18.
Who reads this blog?
Anyone who has a sense of adventure, who is a bit quirky, zany or offbeat, I hope.
What next?
I’ve no idea and that’s the way I like it.
Thanks for the Interview. You’re welcome.
If you would like me to write an article or use an excerpt from one of my posts, please see ways to get in touch on the contact page
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