timeline

Hello, I’m Jas, the indie writer. I started writing again as an adult back in 2015, and one thing led to another. I went from blogger to independent author. In a nutshell:

I was born in raised just outside of London, England with roots in Punjab, northern India.

After loving to write as a kid, life came along I stopped writing for many years… I came back to writing as an adult in 2015 when I started journalling and blogging.

Some of my earliest blogs were A Happier Introvert and, the one whose name I'm most proud of: Awkward Brown Guy.

I ran a blog and community for introvert writers for three years from 2019-2021, and I co-hosted The Introvert Writer Summit in 2022.

I became an author in December 2022 with the release of The Indie Author, a project I had been working on for 3 years.

Now in 2023, I'm blogging my journey as I work on my next book, and continue to write and publish words as an independent writer.

And now here’s a longer version to share how it all happened… 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, and I continued to love learning for the sake of learning

I continued to enjoy creative writing in English, form short stories through to poetry, and studying plays like The Merchant of Venice and MacBeth

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:

After the Masters came to an end, and the winter months drew in, I started to feel low and would be diagnosed with depression and anxiety (yup, right after completing a Masters in the “science of happiness”)

I continued to blog and journal

I took time out for weekly group and individual therapy

In the spring I went on some travels in Europe and the US

2017:

I knew that corporate life wasn't for me, and a friend offered me a remote job at his firm

The people were nice, and I had lots more freedom and autonomy than I'd done in my jobs previously, but I still only lasted a year

I knew I wanted to do “my own thing”, and I was drawn to a career that involved writing

2018-21:

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

At this point I'd also run various blogs for introverts, too, and was slowly learning more about how one could independently make money from their writing

My INF Club blog spawned a podcast and a community… I ran it for about 3 years, and made around $6000 in that time. This may not sound life-changing, but this was a great boost in self-belief and confidence in my abilities as an independent creative

I also co-ran an online summit attended by 2,000 creative introverts all over the world and realised, wow, there's a need for my voice, for my work… there are others out there like me

I got my first taste of working-and-travelling when I spent a month at a co-living space in Tenerife, Spain

2021:

Up until this point, 1:1 tutoring was helping to support my work. I’d been doing this for a number of years, and when tutoring went virtual with the pandemic, this was a bit of a blessing…

After a year of pandemic and dreary whether, I booked two months to stay at the digital nomad village in Madeira, Portugal

Whilst there, I finished up the book I'd started working on, The Indie Author

I released the book as an Ebook after arriving back in the UK, 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. The results and feedback were quite astonishing.

2022:

I left the UK and arrived in Spain for the start of what feels like an extended period of travel

I received a printed proof copy of The Indie Author, a year after releasing the Ebook version and…

After a three-year-long journey, The Indie Author paperback went on sale. Putting together this book has been one of the most challenging and rewarding things I’ve done in my life to date

I'm now continuing my writing into 2023, working on book #2, and sharing my tips + learnings on writing and publishing… Will you join me? ✍️

*Sending you a smile from the Turia Gardens in Valencia, early December 2022.*

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Thank you for reading all the way to the end. Now why don’t you explore my journal 📔, listen to my podcast 🎙️ or read the first 4 chapters of my book 📖…