About me (longer version)

Here’s a longer ‘about me’, in a timeline format: June 1989:

I was born in West Middlesex Hospital, in England. Apparently, the UK had had one of the hottest Summers on record

1993:

I like to sit under my desk and pretend I was in a rocket-ship, play with my toys, and watch cartoons

I would dream up stories and “shows” for my little brother

Primary school was initially big and scary, but my parents soon moved me somewhere else that was a lot smaller, it was like a big friendly house and I loved it there

2000:

At secondary school, I continued to love learning for the sake of learning

I continued to enjoy creative writing in English, from short stories through to poetry, reading The Merchant of Venice and MacBeth and so on

As school progressed, I had to choose subjects and figure out what I wanted to do with my life… I ended up choosing the “important” ones like Math and Sciences, this was when things started becoming tricky

2007:

I dropped out of university… ended up working in a nice office for a year which I loved… went back to university and dropped out again

University life was tough for me, being away from home, studying courses I didn’t enjoy… looking back, I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life, and I think I knew deep down that I wasn't going to be doing something “conventional”, so no course would have felt like the right fit at that time

2010:

With no degree and coming out of a recession, I felt there weren't many “sensible” options on the table

I ended up in recruitment, in some ways a good fit and some ways out of my comfort zone… I always knew it wouldn't be “it” for me, but after all the dropping out of university I was reminded by everyone that I needed some stability now

I worked for two different companies over the course of 5 years, and ended up becoming a top-performer at the second one

2015:

I resigned from my recruitment job the day I had a formal offer to study a year-long Masters in Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) at the University of East London

I started writing and sharing my thoughts online as I was processing everything, on LinkedIn and then Medium. I started to journal, too.

2016-17:

After the Masters came to an end, and the winter months drew in, I started to feel low and would later be diagnosed with depression and anxiety

I spent a few months in therapy, both group and individual

I continued to blog and journal, and spent some time travelling

I went back to employment for a year, working remotely for a friend’s company; I soon craved my freedom again, I knew I ultimately wanted to do “my own thing”

2018-21:

By this point I'd thought about or tried just about every career involving words you could think of, from content writing, journalism, publishing…

At this point I'd also run various blogs for introverts, too. My INF Club blog - for INFP, INFJ & other creative introverts - spawned a podcast and a community; I ran it for 3 years, publishing to the blog nearly every week for that duration

I also co-ran a virtual summit (The INF Summit) attended by 2,000 creative introverts across the world

2021:

I completed the Ebook version of The Indie Author, releasing it in November 2021

I co-hosted my second online summit for introvert writers: The Introvert Writer Summit

I ran a 10-week programme for writers built around the notion of simply writing for 10 minutes each week; it attracted a range of neurodiverse writers, including those identifying with ADD/ADHD, Autism/Asperger’s and high sensitivity (HSP)

2022:

I went through a year-long journey of taking my (digital) Ebook to (physical) Paperback. I spoke about some of the inner and outer hurdles I had to overcome in this blog post and accompanying podcast episode.

In December 2022, The Indie Author book project was complete when the Paperback version went on sale

2023:

I’m working as a writer and writing guide full-time…

I’ve started working on book #2

With a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology, and more than 7 years of journalling and publishing my words, I’m helping writers start and make progress on their book projects.

Thank you for making it all the way to the end… I’m currently offering a free copy of my book to anyone who signs up for my newsletter. It features long-form interviews with fifty authors, covering pretty much every genre you can think of. Join my newsletter and get your free copy of The Indie Author:

*Photo: Walking along the Turia Gardens in Valencia, December 2022.*

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Jas Hothi is a writer, coach and author of The Indie Author, featuring long-form interviews with fifty self-published authors. He is currently offering a copy of the book to anyone who signs up for his newsletter. to receive your free copy.