Spotlight On Writers – Mark Patterson

I entered this world during a blizzard in the town of St. Helens in the county of Lancashire, England. St. Helens at that time, was a dirty little town situated between Liverpool and Manchester. My parents, especially my mother, enjoyed reading and my sister and I were enrolled at the local library at an early age. I didn’t much care for reading until I was in my teens and my books frequently got returned half read.
At the age of ten, we relocated to just outside Edinburgh and at the local school I had to get used to the accent of classmates and teachers. Back then Sassenachs were not treated as equals and to fit in I adopted their accent so much so that my mother couldn’t understand me. The school though had a high standard of English and the three paragraph essay had to be written in class on a Monday afternoon. This probably started me enjoying telling stories, being creative and from that grew a love of reading. I started high school at Daniel Stewarts college in Edinburgh where the pressures to perform saw classes graded based on each individual’s performance. It was a fabulous school with pupils encouraged to express themselves and the English essay was once again top of mind each week.
We then moved to Johannesburg, my current home and I completed my schooling here.

Almost anything can spark my creativity. My wife and I can sit for hours in a restaurant, people watching and commenting on odd clothing or mannerisms. People provide most subjects for my creativity and writing.