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Biography
I was born in a small village on the Welsh coast. My first years were spent messing
around with sand and buckets and stories and all the magic of early childhood. Then
I started going to school – which seemed like a big mistake at the time. The educational
psychologist informed my parents that he didn’t know what was wrong with me but I couldn’t
be dyslexic because there wasn’t such a thing as dyslexia.
I’ll skip a few years here – I don’t want to have to think about that time. But if you
want to know more about the psychology of a dyslexic, a lot of the angst is worked through
in my novel Breakbeat.
Best perhaps to cut straight to the stage after my condition was diagnosed, after the local
education authority concluded that they couldn’t provide for me within the system and were kind
enough to send me off to Edington School – which specialises in teaching dyslexic children.
I got round some of my problems by focussing on sciences – where the required reading and
writing were minimal. I emerged from the education system with a Mining Geology degree and
then went on to work in scientific research in Aberystwyth and Leicester up until 1989.
I should mention that I got married in 1987. Best thing I ever did.
We headed off to Taiwan in 1989 with the intention of doing a year of voluntary work. As things
turned out we ended up starting a series of large-scale environmental education projects on
behalf of the Baha’i community there. It was three and a half years before we returned,
bringing with us our new baby, but with no particular career prospects.
I’ll jump ahead again here – right up to the time I lost my last proper job and started writing
seriously and being a househusband – which is also serious and is certainly real work – though
there is no salary. It might seem curious that a dyslexic should try to be a novelist. Perhaps
– but that is another story. Suffice it to say that the computer has enabled me to do this. And
gradually, over a period of years, the balance of what I do has changed - so that I now spend
more time writing than any other activity.
Did the writing pay off? Yes. Every word of it. Writing is never lost, whether it is published
or not. In writing it, you have new ideas and thoughts. You are not the same person at the end
of it.
And that is where I am now – living in Leicester, dividing my time between writing and thinking
about housework.
I’ll skip a few years here – I don’t want to have to think about that time. But if you want to know more about the psychology of a dyslexic, a lot of the angst is worked through in my novel Breakbeat.
Best perhaps to cut straight to the stage after my condition was diagnosed, after the local education authority concluded that they couldn’t provide for me within the system and were kind enough to send me off to Edington School – which specialises in teaching dyslexic children.
I got round some of my problems by focussing on sciences – where the required reading and writing were minimal. I emerged from the education system with a Mining Geology degree and then went on to work in scientific research in Aberystwyth and Leicester up until 1989.
I should mention that I got married in 1987. Best thing I ever did.
We headed off to Taiwan in 1989 with the intention of doing a year of voluntary work. As things turned out we ended up starting a series of large-scale environmental education projects on behalf of the Baha’i community there. It was three and a half years before we returned, bringing with us our new baby, but with no particular career prospects.
I’ll jump ahead again here – right up to the time I lost my last proper job and started writing seriously and being a househusband – which is also serious and is certainly real work – though there is no salary. It might seem curious that a dyslexic should try to be a novelist. Perhaps – but that is another story. Suffice it to say that the computer has enabled me to do this. And gradually, over a period of years, the balance of what I do has changed - so that I now spend more time writing than any other activity.
Did the writing pay off? Yes. Every word of it. Writing is never lost, whether it is published or not. In writing it, you have new ideas and thoughts. You are not the same person at the end of it.
And that is where I am now – living in Leicester, dividing my time between writing and thinking about housework.
Rod Duncan
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