Hello my name is
Nicola Batty, I am 43 and I am from
Manchester...
I’d
like to tell you about myself and my writing, which go hand in hand - one
cannot be mentioned without the other!
MY
WRITING
Throughout my childhood in Cheadle Hulme, I was always writing; I completed
my first novel Flash the Robin (fully illustrated!) when I was about 10, and
ever since then I have gone from strength to strength. In more recent years
I have written 5 novels; they are all quite different from each other -
science fiction, black humour, historical subjects, fantasy and even
religion! Although I consider the novel to be the natural form for formal
writing today, I have recently turned my attention to film and TV scripts.
One of my TV scripts Skin was actually published by the BBC several years
ago in an anthology, and then it was published again in 10 Short Plays -
which is used on the school curriculum so Skin is studied by school kids
throughout the country!
RAWPRINTZ
After many disappointments concerning publishers letting me down, I decided
to try to publish work myself… or I should say ourselves, because my partner
Andy Sewina has given me constant support and encouragement along the way!
It was his idea originally to launch RAW MEAT (my Newsletter that comes out
every month) and to set up RAWPRINTZ to publish my novels and other work.
Included in the Newsletter is JACK’S PAGE - Jack being our son, who is
following my example by writing his own stories and even illustrating them!
ZIGGY
Over the past few years I have been writing several autobiographical short
stories, which are about to be collected together to form The Ziggy
Collection. Ziggy is the name of my wheelchair; I originally named him when
I was really into David Bowie. I was just about 17 then, and have been
through many Ziggies since that date, but the name has stuck!
FRIEDREICH’S ATAXIA
The disease that I have is called Friedreich’s Ataxia, a progressive
condition which affects the nervous system. For much of my younger life I
allowed the fact that I was in Ziggy to affect me as little as possible; I
lived alone, I went to London for a few years, I took a BA at Polytechnic, I
went to Transylvania… I did all the usual crazy things people do! Several
things happened around the same time at the beginning of the 90’s… I moved
in with Andy and had Jack.
MY SIGHT
It was when Jack was a baby that I first began to have problems with my
eyesight, which had never really given me trouble before. I think I realised
right away that the disease had chosen to attack my senses, for my hearing
also has become deficient in recent years. I had to give up using a word
processor to write when it became impossible for me to read what was written
on the screen… though my imagination is still active and raring to go!! But
seriously, the loss of my eyesight has been the most difficult thing for me
to come to terms with because I was an artist as well as a writer, and it
meant the end of my painting and sketching. Thankfully, this interest in art
has been passed on to Jack so it’s not dead! But still, the deterioration of
two of my senses presented problems not only with writing but also reading…
UNIVERSITY
Recently I took an MA in English Studies at Manchester University, which I
enjoyed! I needed to prove to myself and to others that I was still capable
of achieving such a thing. It wasn’t just a question of a piece of paper
saying I had passed, but it was a continual battle against people’s
embarrassment and ignorance. Still, my MA was a success, and so my life
continues into the 21st century, with new targets to be achieved and
improvements to be made always!!
