All About Me: Cogito, ergo sum

Hello, and welcome to my bio page. Let me start by saying I abhor doing these. But, unfortunately, like blurbs and editors, they are a necessity in life. So I will begin with the basics.

My name is Brandy, but as a writer, I go by JB Miller. I was born pre-internet, way back in the late 70's. Dang, I'm old. In my head, I'm still a teenager most days. I do get a shock when I walk by a mirror.

I have always loved the written word in all its aspects. I grew up dirt poor and in a part of the country that had a high illiteracy rate. Graduating High School was seen as an accomplishment in itself. There were times people mocked me and my trailer park past, making comments like, 'you will be barefoot and pregnant by the time you're eighteen.' Little did they know how mulishly stubborn I am.

For me, further education was an unreachable dream in the beginning. I tried and even managed to go to college for a year, but life tends to get in the way. I was my grandmother's carer, and when she had three heart attacks in a week, my dreams of college went down the drain.

That did not stop me, though. I still read and self-taught myself as much as possible. Then, when I was eighteen, I printed out part of 'To Althea, from Prison.'I fell in love with this verse of the poem, as it resonated with something deep inside of me.

Stone walls do not a prison make,

Nor iron bars a cage:

Minds innocent and quiet take

That for an hermitage.

If I have freedom in my love,

And in my soul am free,

Angels alone, that soar above,

Enjoy such liberty.

It was a reminder to myself that my circumstances did not cage me. I could achieve my dreams. I was not and would never be a victim of my circumstance. I had always been a dreamer, and I refused to give those dreams up. When I was a child, I had three professions that I dreamed of achieving. Thankfully, they are all linked in humanities, so they work well together. They were the following.

While the road has been long, and I have not reached my goals to be those three things, I am so far removed from those humble beginnings as one can get. At the age of twenty-two, I moved to the UK, where I married my Scotsman. We have three beautiful children, and I am now working my way through University.

It's taking longer than I had planned since I have to study part-time, but I'm working on my BA in Creative Writing and Classical Studies. Over the past eight years, I have written over ten books, countless poems and short stories, as well as articles and blog posts. My end goal is to gain my Doctorate and lecture at the university level once my husband retires. So, while I do not have the official title of those three careers, in a way, I am already doing all three!

Overall, any obstacle can be overcome. I am living proof of that. So, if anyone struggling with their dream is reading this, know that nothing is impossible.