Episode 4

John’s Journey
Being a Middle Child,
Mental Health Struggles &
His Passion for Writing

with John Allen

Welcome to another episode of the Journey Podcast!

In this episode, I’m having a conversation with a dear friend of mine, John Allen.

John is an award-winning writer and copywriter from England. He writes under the pen name of J.W.Allen for fiction and holds several diplomas in creative writing. His stories have appeared in Simultaneous Times Podcast, Dark Matter Magazine, Sci-Fi Lampoon and more.

John won the QuaranCon 2022 Speculative Fiction Prize for his dystopian story Show Me Your Resume. He holds a Silver Award and two Honourable Mention Awards for Writers of the Future and was a finalist for both the James White Award in 2018 and the Val Wood Romance Prize in 2019.

John has spoken and moderated at many conventions including Nine Worlds, BristolCon, and Capricon. He is an active member of several writing groups including Spectrum Writers and Queens Theatre Writers.

Away from writing, John is a champion of promoting better mental health in society, and in the UK has worked with Mind, Rethink Mental Illness, Samaritans, and Time to Change providing speaking, training, admin support and copywriting services.

John currently lives behind a pile of books on the east coast of England, creating new worlds and civilisations in his mind.

But it wasn’t always smooth sailing for John. In this episode, he will be sharing how he got into writing and his struggle with his mental health along the way, and how he became a champion of promoting better mental health in society in his unique way.

John’s advice to those who are trying to follow their passions but feeling challenged to do so:

• Be kind to yourself.
• Be yourself, be authentic.
• Put yourself out there – network!
• Try not to copy what everyone else is doing – trust yourself.

I hope you find his journey inspiring!

You can contact John via his website and on social media via the links below.

Visit John’s website: www.johnallenwriter.com

Follow John on:

Twitter: @TheOnlyJohnnyA

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/john-allen-he-him-28058527

John’s Career Change book: Career Change: How To Conquer The Fear Of Failing

Thank you for listening!

If you are an introverted aspiring leader and wanting to discover your authentic voice, reconnect with your inner-wisdom and lead authentically but you feel like you need some support and guidance, I invite you to check out my 1:1 Somatic Coaching Programme and schedule a 30 minute connection call.