TJ's Green's Not So Secret History

Things that might make you giggle!

Thank you for subscribing to Where the Witches Gather. This is a blog I published a while ago on my TJ Green Author website that I thought I should bring to Substack. A few more posts will migrate here, too, and I have yet to finish my other post about Cornish myths and White Haven. It’s coming, honest. Anyway, I picked this one because it tells you more about my background, and I figure if I’m to pop into your inbox and feed, it’s only fair that you know more about me. Don’t worry, there’s no horrible reveals! At least I hope not…

A million years ago I was in a band

Well, 30 years ago actually, in a little place called Stourbridge in the West Midlands in the UK. It just feels like a million years ago. It was in the late 80’s and indie bands were everywhere. My sister’s boyfriend, Jon, was starting another band, and he asked me if I wanted to be a backing singer. Despite the fact that I had never been in a band before, or had any aspirations to be in one – I was never someone who sang into a hairbrush in front of the mirror - I said, “Oh all right then.” This was just after I had promised myself to say yes to things in a bid to make my life more interesting. As a strategy in providing excitement to life, I can recommend it.

So, at some point soon after I found myself in a practice studio called the Fridge, warbling into a mic, and wondering what on earth I was doing. This state of confusion, excitement and nerves, was to last for 2 years. It involved practice sessions, eventually gigs in front of actual people, and increasing popularity. The band was called Ned’s Atomic Dustbin. Forgive the image quality of the photos below. They are old…

A very youthful Neds!

At that time there were a few Stourbridge bands, and The Wonderstuff and Pop Will Eat Itself were two of the biggies, and we were lucky enough to support them. There were fun times – free passes into lots of gigs - and not so fun – touring with a load of blokes, but after two years my time was up when they threw me out. My final gig was at the Hummingbird in Birmingham, now called something else, playing third support to the The Wonderstuff who were headlining, and Jesus Jones. I confess that while I am creative in many ways, music is not one of them. However, I do enjoy a good SingStar session on the PlayStation 😊 They went on to do pretty well, releasing an album, performing on Top of the Pops, and still do a Christmas gig every year back in the UK.

At this point Grunge was creeping onto the horizon and I was a big fan. This led to a very hectic period in my life of seeing more gigs, going to festivals, pubs, and virtually living at my local indie club JB's - the original on King Street. Good times... I have another post about that time that I will be sharing here soon.

I acted in a theatre group in Birmingham

Now with acting I was on more familiar ground. I had acted before in a few local amateur dramatics my mother and neighbours were in, and was prone to impersonating the teachers that taught us in my nurse training, so joining a theatre school was lots of fun. Our couple of years of evening classes and small productions culminated in a summer of street performances of a translated French farce – I forget the name. I played an old crazy lady with blacked out teeth called Clotilde, I think, while my friend Jen played my old and ancient crazy lady friend. There were about 7 of us, and we had a pantomime donkey. The old crazy ladies’ role involved running around the streets drumming up an audience, donkey in tow, as well as having parts in the play. We performed in bandstands and village greens, all money made going on alcohol and food. The culmination of our summer of fun was a performance at Ludlow festival. I wish had a photo to share, but I don’t. We ended the summer with a party at Cecelia’s house – out excellent rear legs of the donkey – it was epic and went on until dawn, and that’s all I’ll say on that. Thanks to Pete Tulk, our illustrious director; it was a summer I’ll never forget.

After that I still acted occasionally when we entered New Zealand’s 48 hour film competition for a few years, but I produced more than I acted. (I’m quite bossy and very organised.) It’s in the blood darling. ;)

Lawrence Durrell is my writing God

He’s certainly not for everyone, but I think he’s brilliant. I first discovered his writing when I was eighteen – just before I joined Ned’s. I read Monsieur first, the first book in the Avignon Quintet, and it was like nothing I’d ever read before; it’s an excellent meta-fictional series. After racing through those I had to read more, but was convinced his other books couldn’t be as good. Wrong! The Alexandria Quartet is stunning. Mountolive is my favourite book out of the quartet, hence the name of my publishing house.

I’ve read all of his books, including his travel books, and have most of them, as well as biographies and commentaries on his life and writing. In fact, reading Lawrence Durrell was one of the reasons I joined Ned’s. His stories are populated with fabulous places, colourful characters, and different ways of being and living, and they prompted me to look at life in a way I never had before. I wrote a short autobiographical piece on him for a memoir paper I did for my English degree. I’ll publish it here if I can find it. He is known for making his settings as colourful as his characters, and I think this is why place matters so much to me when I write, too. Even now, thirty plus years after I first read his work, no one compares to Larry.

He called the UK Pudding Island, which amuses me no end. Sorry England. I love and loathe you which is why I moved to NZ, and now live in Portugal. I call it Plague Island, seeing as everyone I know who visits catches Covid or the flu. Larry travelled all over Europe, but ended up in Provence. I think we share a love of the heat and red wine. He’s the top of my all time dinner guest list.

Many of Larry’s books deal with religion and beliefs systems, discussing ideas that were already swirling around my head. I think it’s fair to say he encouraged me along my pagan path, too.

I garden as obsessively as I write and read. Or used to…

Gardening is a family obsession. My late maternal nan, my mom, and my sister all love(d) gardening. There’s nothing quite like the spring when furtive green shoots are stirring, and I become frantic to get into the garden to weed, plant, mulch, and sow seeds in my greenhouse.

I used to live in a very pretty place called Pinehaven, about half an hour out of Wellington NZ, and our house was on the edge of the bush. As a necessity, gardening involved the wilful destruction of saplings which shot up everywhere, and the steady clipping back, or sometimes hacking back, of everything native. If I didn’t garden regularly there our section would have been completely reclaimed by the bush.

My NZ garden, and my Portuguese pool!

It’s very different in Portugal. It’s hotter and dryer which means I can indulge in Mediterranean style planting. We have well established cacti and lush aloes, and I intend to have prolific bougainvillea too! We bought a greenhouse just after we arrived. I had one in the UK, but never had the space in NZ. There’s nothing better than pottering in one! And we have a swimming pool. Oh the joys…

Yoga is the new black

I took up yoga in NZ, when we had classes at work during lunch. I became very obsessive at blocking out the time to go. Downward dog, upward dog, crow, bow pose, dancers pose, Warrior 1, 2 and 3, and happy baby, among many other poses, are all familiar words now in my vocabulary.

I continue to practise regularly, and follow YouTube videos for variety. It’s so good for my flexibility, and a great way to relax. Now I’m over fifty, I also do weights classes on YouTube. I highly recommend Heather Robertson’s channel. I also enjoy Yoga with Tim.

We have two cats

Sacha arrived first nearly ten years ago, and is calm and independent, and sleeps on my bed properly at night without whining in my ear. Leia arrived a couple of years later on Christmas Eve, and was a grey tabby bundle of insanity. She still does not understand that 3.00am is an inappropriate time to lick my face to wake me up. Prior to having these two, we had the wonderful Genghis who had a huge personality, a cat called Wardrobe, who deserved a much prettier name, and Scout, who was an independent ginger tom.

Sacha and Leia

Bits and Bobs

I love holidays abroad, especially Asia, but love being at home and pottering too. I am a typical Cancerian in that regard. Our home is an eclectic mix of colour, pictures, books, and objects from our travels! Now we’re back in Europe, I’m looking forward to exploring places closer to home.

I do not have children, by choice. Motherhood was not for me. It’s a decision I have never regretted, and I love my childfree life.

I read prolifically, but I think I’ve mentioned that before. I love a good detective series or mysteries, and a bit of paranormal fun is always appreciated. I also read non-fiction, so have books on myths, history, witchcraft, and travel.

I’m also a pagan and a witch, and if you haven’t read my blog about that, you can read it here:

Leaning Into My Witch

Tarot is one of my favourite practices, and I’m really looking forward into doing a deep dive into that this year. I have a few tarot card sets now, but my favourite is the Lonely Dreamer. The Aquarian set was gifted to me many years ago, but I have really connected to the Lonely Dreamer. I have also just bought the Green Witch Oracle Deck, and am looking forward to exploring those.

Thank you for reading this post and subscribing to Where the Witches Gather. I hope this has given you some insight into what I get up to when I’m not writing, and how life has influenced my stories. I am a full time writer and I honestly think it’s the best job in the world! I love to hear from my readers, so if you have comments on the post, please drop them below.