Mission Statement
Welcome to markwwollacott.com. This website has been designed to be the primary vehicle for showcasing my publications,
services, courses (eventually) and thoughts.
My mission is partly personal and partly professional. I understand that it might be confusing, but I’d like them to be combined into one site.
On the professional side, my aim from 2019 onwards is to produce income generating businesses, including this site, to develop my authority in writing (both fiction and non-fiction), to publish more books, and to develop services and eventually courses aimed at budding writers and entrepreneurs.
In terms of more personal things, I love to explore ideas including history, archaeology, philosophy, philology, and more. I’m also working on developing my own philosophy for life (The Way of the Runari) and to improve my own health/fitness etc..
These ideas will combine well with my professional efforts.
On this page you’ll find out all the basics you need to know about me (should you wish to know).
Who is Mark Wollacott?
Mark Wollacott identifies as himself. He’s a writer, an eclectic learner, a bit of a wit (well, some might say a purveyor of Dad jokes), and well, just himself, whatever that is. Having taken a number of reputable tests and studied comparative experiences, he believes himself to be on the autism spectrum (an Aspie).
He grew up in the Cotswold town of Cirencester, the son of an ex-RAF cook turned milkman from Bristol and a former shop assistant turned school cleaner from the Isle of Thanet in Kent. He has two younger siblings though also counts the 5 cats (Domino, Ludo, Charlie, Jack, and Tilly).
Mark struggled through school in some areas but also felt unchallenged in others as if he could do more. He really appreciated the classes of Mr. Woolley in the 3rd year of junior school such as supermarket layout theory (pretty cool for a 9 year old Aspie).
He received some help for his inability to get his writing and spelling down, but only for one year. In college he received a diagnosis as mildly dyslexic (though not enough to get any help) and eventually taught himself to spell by retyping words in Word until the spellchecker accepted them.
School was pretty tough in many ways – constant bullying from teasing to physical violence to the destruction of my property.
Mark scraped through his GCSEs having not really studied properly – he was focused on playing football, avoiding the bullies, and reading fantasy novels or history books (his school never taught history).
College proved better but difficult. He had to retake his English GCSEs and failed first year biology and chemistry. Mark changed his focus to history and barely scraped his second year. However, he had some good teachers; especially John Dewar, who helped him improve and suddenly he went from a E student to a B/A student.
From there he moved to university to complete his dream of studying ancient history and archaeology in Lampeter. He’s gone on to live in Japan, Hungary, South Korea, and Bristol in the UK.
Despite his difficulties in school, Mark has retained his love of learning which now includes philosophy, philology, history, archaeology, psychology, and more. Mark currently runs his own writing and business consulting business.
Loved Sport – Bit Rubbish Though
In 1995-96, Mark played his one and only season with the Cirencester Town FC youth team. He played up front, on the wing, at right back, central midfield, and centre back – failing in almost every position though he did set up their first ever girl with an overhead pass in a 7-1 defeat.
The team lost every match that season in the league though they did get through to the semi-finals of the cup thanks to two byes and their only victory of the season. Mark failed to complete 90 mins in any fixture.
He found more success in cross country running where he placed highly in a number of races and in 1995 qualified for the county finals. Sadly a hamstring injury forced him to pull out after one lap of the race in Gloucester.
Yeah, after learning the hard way what a golden duck was when playing cricket for his university, he realised that sport was not really his thing.
A Varied Career
Mark began his first real job – he’d helped his dad as a milkman in the early 90s, as a shelf-stacker for Somerfield at £2 an
hour. A year later he managed the amazing pay rise of 0.05p.
The store closed in 2000 after Somerfield overreached itself by buying Kwik-Save. At university he had a short stint back with Somerfield in Lampeter as a Bakery Assistant.
After graduation, finding work proved difficult – he amassed many rejections and a few interviews which went nowhere. However, he was able to become a Supervisor with Millets and eventually made it to Assistant Manager and Cover Manager for two stores – Cirencester and Bristol.
Going International
In 2003 he began a year long application to the JET programme to achieve his dream to teach in a foreign country. By July, 2004, he was in Osaka teaching at middle schools in Kashiwara city.
He taught at 3 schools in 3 years and schooled himself in teaching techniques which allowed him to rise above the status of a tape recorder to be a real teacher. In 2007 he moved to Kishiwada city where he taught at 4 schools in 2 years.
Back to the UK
After returning to the UK, Mark again struggled to find work in Cirencester. Despite teaching and management experience, he could not even get interviews for job in all areas, at all levels, across the country.
Eventually he gave up looking for work in the real world and turned to online writing. His first job paid $3.60 an hour, but he persevered by moving to Hungary to make life affordable and work on increasing his status/income.
In 2013, Mark moved into outreach management and business consulting, helping hundreds of companies including major national brands in the UK and America in a multitude of sectors, build their online businesses from website content to online marketing.
He also launched his own local news magazine, The Nightingale, which ran from 2011 to 2016 and combined news, features, and advertisements.
During this period he also moved into resume and biography writing for c-suite level executives across the world but mostly in the United States.
In 2019, he began working on building his own online business starting with his personal site which celebrates his love of writing, philosophy, literature, history, archaeology, and movies.
Mark Wollacott’s Publishing History
It Started with a Play
Having always wanted to be a writer, but having never tried, Mark’s first foray into the area was his first play, Witch Trial which debuted to great success at the 2001 Drover’s Arts Festival in Lampeter, Ceredigion.
From there he successfully placed a few letters in publications such as Geographical, The Daily Telegraph (a haiku), The Japan Times, and The Yomiuri Shimbun.
He also wrote for the Osaka prefectural newsletter of JET teachers (Naniwa) and edited The Osakan, the newsletter for the Osaka Association of JET teachers, for one year.
Moving into Articles
In 2009 he began writing under the pseudonym W.F. Tyrman and published a dozen articles in the Kansai Time Out and Kansai Scene magazines on socio-economic topics.
In 2011 Mark published his first book, a collection of haiku, senryu, haibun, and other poems called 108 Breaths. It’s sold a few copies and is still available.
It also featured a short story – The Spare Room, which was published in the charity anthology For Tohoku, which raised money for survivors of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the region in that year.
In the same year he launched a small online magazine which was a tough learning process and was ultimately unsuccessful – Wulfstan’s Literary Tumble.
Self-Published Novelist
Over the years he’s begun and not finished numerous novels including a fantasy epic. Many of the projects are still live.
In 2014, while suffering from concussion from a fall in China, he took on the NaNoWriMo challenge and finally completed a novel – The Girl Who Made It Snow.
This novel combined folklore, Bristol legends, local characters, and pagan elements to chart the quest of a young girl, Kara Cove-Brown who wants to make it snow on Christmas Day.
Since then he’s completed a short story collection, Single Frames, which debuted in 2018 though some of the individual short stories were published earlier. The anthology was inspired by a love of Japanese cinema and the novels of Murakami Haruki and Kawabata Yasunari.
Mark Wollacott’s Bibliography
2001
Play – Witch Trial – Drover’s Arts Festival
Letter – Geographical Magazine
2003
Letter – Geographical Magazine
2004
Letters – Western Daily Press, Gloucestershire Echo, Yomiuri Shimbun
Article – Naniwa
2005
Letter – Japan Times
Articles – Naniwa
Editor/Writer – The Osakan
2006-08(?)
Poems/Short Stories – self-published on Writer’s Cafe under the name Wulfstan Crumble
Letters – Japan Times, Daily Telegraph
2009
Articles:
Tetrapods, Kansai Scene,
Concrete Rivers, Kansai Scene
Hosokawa: Japan’s First Ronin Prime Minister, Kansai Scene
100 Yuan Challenge, Kansai Time Out
Monster Parents, Kansai Scene
Sour Strawberries – A Ticket to Leave, Kansai Scene
Hiking the Midosuji, Kansai Time Out
Taketomi Island, Kansai Time Out
2010-11
300+ Articles published on the Austin Post 
Haiku Collection – 108 Breaths
Short Story – The Spare Room
2011-13
Over 1,000 articles for sites such as WiseGeek, eHow, and others as a ghost writer.
Editor/Writer/Owner – 2 editions of The Nightingale
Short Story – Ta Fogmaeden
2014
Novel – The Girl Who Made It Snow.
2015-16
Articles for Stop Anxiety Attacks, Steps to Recovery, Invisible Children, and Tech Function.
Editor/Writer/Owner – The Nightingale
Short Story – A Rowboat to Steep Holm
Short Story – Sarge’s Last Day
2018
Short Story Collection – Single Frames
2021
Workbook (as Okamian) – Haiku Notebook
2024
Novel (thriller) – Winter Homecoming
Novel (fantasy) – The Hunt for Silverheart