: About Me

My name is Teddi Jutsen. I am a mother of three wonderful boys, currently aged 15, 14 and 12.

I grew up in the Philippines and moved to Sydney, Australia at the age of 19.

Writing had always been an enjoyable, therapeutic exercise for me ever since I was a child. I come from a family of eight children, which provided a lot of writing material for me. My fascination with the English language at the age of 5, ensured that I explored all the avenues I could find to achieve a full grasp of this foreign language. Having to learn it as a second language, I was really vigilant in my observation of how it all works.

As a child I watched a lot of American TV shows and movies in English and I looked for every opportunity to practice speaking in English. I would often repeat dialogues from my favourite TV shows and stand in front of the mirror copying the way the actors spoke and making sure I got the sound out right.

At school I relished every writing opportunity in English. It was a chance for me to show off my ever expanding vocabulary and my excellent handle on the English language, be it themed essay writing, poetry, book reviews or current events reporting.

I also read a lot and had an expansive variety of reading choices from newspapers, Time Magazine, Reader's Digest, novels, biographies, medical research papers, to adult books which were way ahead of my age-group, anything really that inspired my interest.

Since moving to Australia, I have evolved a lot more as a person and it follows that such evolution would filter through to my writing.

I also explored songwriting which is another avenue that I find I really enjoy and I produced my first album of original songs, entitled "And the Winner is... Teddi", released in November 2004.

I was working as a Legal Secretary in one of the top law firms in Sydney until recently. I left my 9-to-5 job to focus my time on my family, my writing and my internet-based businesses, as well as expand my lifecoaching business.

My passion is ...

spending time with my family, followed closely by travelling the world.

I know too much about ...

nothing.

My parents always told me ...

to be good at school, get good grades and get a good job! I did all that!

My childhood ambition ...

was to move to Australia!

My favorite memory ...

was when I was 5 years old and a young American man visiting my home held my hands and looked me in the eyes and told me I was beautiful.

Why I write ...

I write because it's very therapeutic and it gives me a sense of connection to my inner being.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

I have just finished reading "The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent" by Esther Hicks/Abraham

My first job ...

was at Seiko as a junior secretary.

My best moment ...

was when I held my first baby in my arms for the first time!

My inspiration ...

are my three wonderfully magnificent children!

Parenting & Pregnancy > Tweens & Pre-Teens The stages of male puberty

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Five years ago my eldest son, "Big Z", turned 11. Little did I know the implications of this event until one day I nearly collided in the hallway with his two younger brothers running out of his room excitedly, apparently each of them wanting to be the first one to break some exciting (and rather amusing) news! I asked what the excitement was about and in perfect unison they announced, "Z has hair on his private" followed by both of them collapsing on the floor in hysterical giggles! Well of course I was in total disbelief, and I was convinced they were making it up, after all, Big Z had o...

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