March 2001: Working as Electronic Content Quality Controller for Blackwell Science in Osney Mead, Oxford. House-hunting for a house to buy; likely to be Bicester but also looking at other satellite towns to Oxford. Single, no pets. Have been playing in a local band for just over one year. Looking forward to going to Iceland in a few months time; never been there before, but have always wanted to – I’m nervous about it, having done lots of conservation holidays in the past few years but all in the UK.

March 1991: Living in Lowestoft, Suffolk; doing A-Levels at Kirkley High School, and about to take exams. Hoping to go to university next September to Crewe+Alsager College of Higher Education. No girlfriends yet, and few friends (although lots of people I am friendly with), I am, or perceive myself to be quite shy, and I lack confidence in myself.

March 1981: Living in Lowestoft, Suffolk; attending Pakefield Primary School; best friend is Patrick Harboard. Learning to ride my bicycle; playing on the old golf course behind the house; playing with my trainset, and farm (which my Grandpa made for me); making up stories. I think my Grandpa is going to make me a toy theatre soon.

This said, there’s not much I can do about it unless I were to become the CEO of Random House, Bloomsbury or Penguin. So this got me thinking. What’s marketable about me? What’s the hook that will grab the Marketing Executive’s eye? Not much. I have talent, I’m a good writer, but there’s not much that’s remarkable about my life. Or is there…?

What is Project Nelly^TM, Jody asked. Project Nelly is the secret code devised by me and my then manager, Helen, for the project to help me with my aspergers and with succeeding in life. Feel free to shoot me down here for being rediculous (I would), but maybe that’s it, maybe that’s my thing, maybe that’s the hook with which to catch my Marketing Executive?

Part of me thinks this idea stinks. I don’t like to go on about my asperger’s, and I don’t wake up every morning and think that it’s against me, but it’s there, if mildly and it does effect who I am. I try not to let it effect what I do, and I certainly don’t use it as an excuse (I hope), so why should I try to use it to help me get published? That seems so wrong, doesn’t it? It probably wouldn’t even work anyway…

It seems weird to think that it is now fourteen years since I first discovered this occasional series of 7-Up, 14-Up, 21-Up and 28-Up in Sociology class at a time when they were making and screening (the then most recent follow up), 35-Up. Can it really be 14 years since I did my A-Levels?! Can it be 7 years already since I last caught up the story in 42-Up? Seven years ago, I was in the midst of my three-long years of temping and still awaiting my first ‘proper’ full-time job. Seven years ago I was still living in house shares before it became houseshare from hell. Seven years ago I had just broken up with my first (and only, to date) girlfriend.

And 14 years ago? Fourteen years ago I was still at Kirkley High School (as were half of The Darkness). Fourteen years ago, university, let alone university twice was still far on the horizon.

And 21? Twenty-one years ago I was starting out on my career, and my dream to be a writer…