Authors Hotline - Where authors and their readers connect

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

Cindy Jefferies

http://www.cindyjefferies.co.uk

To download this profile page, click HERE

Q: What were you like at school?

A bit of a dreamer, but mostly pretty happy, and I loved reading aloud in English lessons. At primary school our teacher would sometimes draw a squiggle on the board and ask for volunteers to make up a story about it. I always offered, and he knew I could go on for ages, so he used to go to his study next door and listen to the cricket on his radio!

Q: What did you want to be when you were a child?

A writer of stories, ever since I could read them. I also couldn't imagine how i could achieve that ambition, so I also harboured the desire to help my father do the watering in the greenhouses (the family business was growing and selling plants) or to be a teacher.

Q: Which three words describe you best?

thoughtful happy ambitious

Q: What makes you cringe?

a fork scratching a plate

Q: What are you afraid of?

Those large black spiders that insist on coming indoors and run very fast. I just can't bring myself to pick them up so I vacuum them instead. Sorry, spiders!

Q: When did you last have a really good laugh?

last night, listening to live music and jokes in my local pub.

Q: What is your most treasured possession?

My inspiration

Q: What do you do as a hobby?

Read, paddle in my stream, listen to music, have fun with my family and friends, watch films, garden, walk...there are so many things I love to do I sometimes wonder how I find time to write!

Q: What strange habits do you have?

I have been known to pull up plant cuttings to see if they've got roots.

Q: What�s your favourite food?

Fresh, warm, home made bread with a cup of coffee

Q: What do you day dream about?

Conversations

Q: What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?

Stunt pilot...but I'd be much too scared

Q: Do you feel younger or older than your current age?

Much younger...until I run upstairs and realise I can't do it as quickly as I used to

Q: If you could meet one person, dead or alive, who would it be?

Laurie Lee, to thank him for his time.

Q: What quality do you most admire in a person?

Empathy. A bit like sympathy but not...look it up!

Q: What is the most interesting place you have ever visited?

So far, Istanbul, but travelling is a work in progress

Q: What is the best advice anyone has ever given you?

I once went to meet Laurie Lee, poet and author of Cider With Rosie. I told him I wanted to write, and was boasting about my A level expectations when he gave me a quizzical look and said "You don't need exams to be a writer." Of course he was absolutely right. Laurie Lee died some years ago now, but I still feel a connection to him. He showed me much kindness, inviting me in and giving me a mug of tea, when I had just turned up on his doorstep without an invitation. My new house faces up the Slad valley, where he used to live, and is buried in the churchyard. The Slad brook flows along the edge of my garden, and I often think of him as I hear it flowing along.

Q: What would you most like to change about yourself?

I'd like to be less shy

Q: What has life taught you?

Think before saying yes, and also before saying no!

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