The Author Hotline
is
being developed by CW4K, or Creative Writing 4 Kids. They are the company behind a website that enables children to create and publish their own stories online. In its first year it has signed up over 2000 members and has been enthusiastically received by children, parents and teachers. In fact the response has been so encouraging that they are planning a huge expansion of its services. Embedding The Author Hotline into the site is part of that expansion...
For more information on CW4K CLICK HERE
Q: What were you like at school?
Chatty, clever at the subjects I was clever at, like English, History, French and Spanish and USELESS at Maths and Games.
Q: What did you want to be when you were a child?
An all-singing, all dancing STAR!
Q: Which three words describe you best?
Friendly, talkative and optimistic
Q: What is your favourite word?
Turquoise
Q: What makes you cringe?
Too many things to list, really, but mainly dresses and skirts worn without tights in winter, too loud musak in restaurants, litter all over the streets....you get the sort of thing. It can vary from day to day, too!
Q: What are you afraid of?
FLYING!!! Being unable to read when I'm really old. Not too fond of being alone in a house, and have to have the radio on all the time.
Q: When did you last have a really good laugh?
Five minutes ago.
Q: What is your most treasured possession?
Photograph albums.
Q: What do you do as a hobby?
I read an enormous amount and I also knit. Is going to the movies a hobby? Watching tv? I do a lot of that as well.
Q: What strange habits do you have?
I don't think I have any, really.Perfectly ordinary and boring, I'm afraid.
Q: What’s your favourite food?
Falafel....chick pea balls, fried and eaten in a pitta bread with salad and tahina poured over. A street food all over the Middle East and now, happily, available in England.
Q: What do you day dream about?
I used to dream about being on the South Bank show but the South Bank show is no more...
Q: What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve done?
Not really that outrageous. I spent one summer holiday busking in Paris. I made TONS of money too!
Q: What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?
I'd be a corking tv critic! And I'd love to have been a Country and Western singer. Too old now, alas.
Q: Do you feel younger or older than your current age?
Much much younger!
Q: If you could meet one person, dead or alive, who would it be?
Jane Austen
Q: What quality do you most admire in a person?
Integrity and a sense of humour
Q: What is the most interesting place you have ever visited?
Venice...it's the most recent interesting place, anyway. I lived in many countries as a child and North Borneo was probably my favourite. And I do have a soft spot for the city where I was born...Jerusalem.
Q: What is the best advice anyone has ever given you?
Write without hope and without despair.
Q: What would you most like to change about yourself?
My height! I'd love to be four or five inches TALLER.
Q: What has life taught you?
That you should do your best and not repine about things you can't change.
Q: How long have you been a writer?
35 years
Q: Was there a specific moment in your life when you decide to become a writer?
When I went in for a competition and didn't win it. I enjoyed the process of writing my story so much that I decided to try and continue doing that.
Q: Where do you do your writing?
In the kitchen on the kitchen table. Or in my study. I have a laptop.
Q: What are the best and worst things about being an author?
The best thing is getting the new book through the post for the first time. The worst thing is seeing a beloved book go out of print and disappear.
Q: Where do you get your greatest ideas from?
Mostly from places...
Q: Which of your own characters do you most identify with?
With Ozymandias, the fat black cat in The Fantora Family Files and the Fantora Family Photographs...both out of print alas. He's a very wise cat who just sits on his cushion by the fire and tells stories.
Q: What do you do to combat “writers’ block”?
I write...I don't believe in writer's block. Nurses don't have nurses' block. I believe in things going badly and in having to cross everything out and start again over and over but not in a BLOCK...not as such!
Q: What was your favourite book as a child?
Little Women, closely followed by Ballet Shoes.
Q: What book do you wish you had written?
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Q: What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
It's hard, but don't give up. And see above: write without hope and without despair.
DIDO
ISBN
9780385615174
Published By
David Fickling Books
Status
In Print
TROY
ISBN
0439950953
Published By
Scholastic
Status
In Print
ITHAKA
ISBN
9780552547994
Published By
Corgi
Status
In Print
HAPPY EVER AFTER
ISBN
0099482169
Published By
Definitions
Status
In Print
OTHER ECHOES
ISBN
0099456621
Published By
Definitions
Status
In Print
LIZZIE'S WISH
ISBN
0746060300
Published By
Usborne
Status
In Print
CECILY'S PORTRAIT
ISBN
978074607312-4
Published By
Usborne
Status
In Print
A CANDLE IN THE DARK
ISBN
0713674547
Published By
A&C Black
Status
In Print
LITTLE BALLET STAR
ISBN
9781408305416
Published By
Orchard
Status
In Print
VOYAGE
ISBN
1903015006
Published By
Barn Owl Books
Status
In Print