J SMITH-PULA: Story so far...

My love for writing started in primary school. For a fair chunk of schooling (primary, intermediate, to about halfway through high school) I was a quiet soul. I would talk to some people, but my confidence wasn’t the best. Finding my voice and confidence came from writing initially. Then, I found the Youth Council (a youth branch of the City Council, in the mid-noughts).

I started escaping to my happy place a lot during my youth. It was better than reality at times. Writing about anything and everything became a big part of me. This is where some of my dreams were birthed.

The J Smith-Pula brand started from a dream, somewhere between high school and university. We’re looking at close to fifteen years ago. Despite wanting to have a different alias name for my writing, it soon became a well-known name shared between my brother and me.  

The J Smith-Pula brand came about when I wanted to change my writing name, somewhere between leaving high school and starting out at university. Previous names didn’t cut the mustard, and I felt that J Smith-Pula would look better on a book than my previous pen names.  

Other ideas have derived from the J Smith-Pula brand, such as my clothing label. Two different ideas yet both tie into each other. MUQ Clothing (Mosh*d Up Quandie – pronounced “Candy,”) was inspired during my finding myself stage about twenty years ago. I was heavily into Simple Plan, Green Day, The Veronicas etc.  Simple Plan has a clothing label that influenced me to take that path. However, MUQ Clothing is still in its infancy stage.

As a writer, there are many things that can influence one’s writing. Whether its from pop culture to TV shows to music. One of my biggest influences was Shortland Street (a TV soap based in New Zealand). While this path never got accomplished, it still helped shape my writing and directed me down towards studying writing at university.

The J Smith-Pula (& MUQ Clothing) brands are still growing. Some day they might get big, they may just stay within my community. Time will tell.