Aboot (In mair detail)

Maist author biographies read awfae similar and they’re aw telt in the third person. It’s the stannart. But if ye’ve gat this faur oan ma website, it’s ainlie richt tae gie ye a better idea o who ah am and hoo ah came tae be a Scots scriever.

It began the day ah opened ma mooth. Ah grew up in a wurkin claiss toon oan the West Coast o Scotland and fae ah wis knee high tae a graisshopper, ah gat telt thit the way ah spoke wis wrang. It wis ‘butter’ no ‘bu’er’ and ‘water’ not ‘wa’er’. Ah still mind the shame ah felt when ah gat telt aff fur speakin wrang or slang, as it wis aften pit. Ah wanted tae be clever, tae be a scriever, but wurds thit ah knew wur wurds were somehoo wrang. 

By the time ah wis at the so-calt big school, ma Scots tongue hud been drummed oot o me. Tae this day, ah’m still no confident speakin the leid. But it’s fur a different reason. Ah get telt ah’m tae posh, tae well-spoken tae be a Scots speaker, even though it’s ma mither tongue. Sae gettin back tae bein a confident Scots speaker, if it e’er happens, is gonnae take time, but ah’ve mercifully gat nae issues scrievin the leid. 

Ah stairted scrievin in Scots in ma late teens. It began wi a bevvy oan Sauchiehall Street. By thit point, ma quest tae scrieve hud taken me oantae a literature degree in Scotland. Thit’s when ma pal telt me thit she wis gonnae scrieve ‘Tae A Moose’ as ‘Tae A Selfie.’ Whit she went oan tae create wis a viral sensation in twinty-fourteen. It wis clear tae me thit folk wantit and loved Scots and it wasnae lang afore we stairted co-authorin daft wee poyums in the leid. 

Ah wis soon scrievin Scots dialogue in ma ain stories. But even then, ah’d nae idea thit ah wis scrievin in a different leid. Ah jist thocht it wis a Scottish accent, or as it wis calt when ah did ma master’s in scrievin in 2015, ‘the vernacular.’ It wasnae until ah’d scrieved a whole buik in Scots, Be Guid tae Yer Mammy, thit ah wis reliably telt thit Scots is a language in its ain richt. 

Ah then reflected oan whit hud happened tae me and generations o Scots speakers who’ve hud the leid drummed oot o them. 

It wis an awfae realisation thit aw the time ah wasted tryin and failin tae scrieve in flo’ery English – which is hoo ma early stories luiked – could huv been spent scrievin in Scots insteid. Fae the get-go, Scots came tae me a lot easier than English e’er did.

Noo, ower ten year and six buiks later, ah’m a prood Scots scriever and cannae see masel daein anyhin else. At ma buik launch fur The Tongue She Speaks, somewan said they didnae like readin, but they like readin in Scots. Ma buiks are fur folk like thit and weans like the lassie ah used tae be, who’re telt thit the way they talk is wrang and dinnae know why.