I was a child at the height of Beatlemania, loving the Fab Four, who my parents approved of while being drawn to The Rolling Stones, who they disliked. That George Harrison was a Pisces, born on 25th February, my birthday, made me wonder about predestination (not that I knew that term)—was I going to become a musician or at least an artist of some kind?

Fifty years later, I have, as a writer. I’ve dabbled in various art forms along the way, including playing guitar, drawing, painting and acting, as well as teaching creative arts to children.

In many ways, I conform to the birth sign Pisces: I’m impressionable, adaptable, artistic, compassionate and self-sacrificing while being melancholic, occasionally fearful and indecisive.

I’m on the fence about astrology’s merits. There’s undeniably something in it, if you only look at the effects it has of unifying and comforting millions of people, in a similar way to religion. I’ve wondered too, about how a pregnant mother’s diet and exercise regime influence a baby’s traits—which would be affected by the time of year.

Dismissed as pseudoscience by some, treated as just a bit of fun by others, some people take astrology seriously. Steven Fry doesn’t like it!

Creative Piscean writers include Dr Seuss, John Steinbeck, David Foster Wallace, Jack Kerouac, Victor Hugo, Douglas Adams, Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, Henrik Ibsen, W. H. Auden, William Gibson, Ovid, John Updike, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Tom Wolfe, Bernard Cornwell, Wilfred Owen, Anthony Burgess, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Dave Eggers, John Irving, Cyrano de Bergerac, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Anaïs Nin, L. Ron Hubbard, Lawrence Durrell and E.L. James (aargh!). 

With one exception, that’s illustrious company.

There’s hope for me yet….

Which writers have the same astrological sign as you?