Echo Freer

Q: What were you like at school?

I wasn't a very good girl at school. I had a lot of friends but I don't think the teachers liked me much. I'm dyslexic so I found written work hard and as a result often acted the clown to make up for the fact that I didn't do well academically.

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

I wanted to be a teacher because my mum and grandmother were both teachers, but when I look back, that wasn't where my real passion was. I loved art and I enjoyed creating stories - the problem was, my parents didn't rate art as a career choice and no one could read my stories because my spelling was so bad!

Q: Which three words describe you best?

Creative. Green. Funny.

Q: What is your favourite word?

onomatopoeia - I can't spell it, but I love it.

Q: What makes you cringe?

fingernails down a blackboard.

Q: What are you afraid of?

Fear! I refuse to live my life in fear.I once abseiled 160 ft to overcome a fear of heights. There is nothing to fear but fear itself!

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

Three days ago - side splitting, tear invoking, uncontrollable laughter. So good for the soul. :-)

Q: What is your most treasured possession?

My photo collection. It chronicles my life and shows my children from bumps to adults. Irreplacable.

Q: What do you do as a hobby?

Yoga, swimming, walking in the woods, cycling, reading, photography, cooking, theatre and cinema.

Q: What strange habits do you have?

I have to eat my breakfast in the right order. I can't eat my porridge before my yoghurt - no way! And I always say thank you to things before I throw them away or recylce them. `Thank you, shoes for protecting my feet for all those miles I've walked.' Things like that.

Q: What’s your favourite food?

Mushroom wellington! Fiddly recipe but absolutely delish!

Q: What do you day dream about?

Having a holiday home right on the beach so that I can wake up and see the sea.

Q: What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve done?

I dressed up as Rod Stewart and sang Maggie May in front of 200 people at a friend's birthday party.

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

I'd like to be a set designer for films or theatre. OR - when I was researching Diamond Geezers I visited an funeral director and I was fascinated by the whole undertaking business, so I'd quite like to have a go at that.

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

Much younger!

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

Mahatma Ghandi. He's one of my all time heroes.

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

Integrity.

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

Luxor in Egypt.

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

If you can visualise it, you can create it.

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

I'd like to increase my metabolism! I've always struggled with my weight.

Q: What has life taught you?

To make the most of every minute. You never know when those you love are going to leave you.

Q: How long have you been a writer?

I wrote my first story in 1977 but then had 23 years of being rejected before I had my first book, Magenta Orange, accepted in 2000.

Q: Was there a specific moment in your life when you decide to become a writer?

Not really but in 2000 I had an operation which went wrong and I died (technically!). When I came out of hospital I decided life was too short to waste and I'd wanted to be a writer for over 2 decades, so I gave myself one year to get published. That was the decisive moment for me.

Q: Where do you do your writing?

The front room of our house is my study. It has a real fire and I've got fairy lights round the fireplace and a water fountain in the corner. I can also see everything that happens in the road outside. Sometimes, I take my laptop and go and sit in a local coffee shop, or even the pub - with a soft drink, of course.

Q: What are the best and worst things about being an author?

The best thing is the freedom to run my own life. I can do what I want, when I want. The worst thing is the isolation. It doesn't often get to me, but if I haven't spoken to anyone other than my husband for a week, I pack up my laptop and go and work somewhere public just to be around other people.

Q: Where do you get your greatest ideas from?

Real life. I take things that have really happened to me or my children, or my friends and expand on them and exaggerate them.

Q: Which of your own characters do you most identify with?

Probably Modesty de Mise from Diamond Geezers -she's an eco-warrior and a wannabe undertaker.

Q: What do you do to combat “writers’ block”?

Two things: 1 - I write through it - anything. Just keep writing even if I have to scrap it all the next day. 2 - Do something completely different - go for a walk or watch a DVD, anything to give my brain a rest. 3 - (OK, I know I said 2, but this is a little extra) I NEVER call it `writers' block'! I think that once you give something a name, you give it power, so I just say I'm taking a break, or I need to get clear.

Q: What was your favourite book as a child?

Eeek! As I said, I'm dyslexic, so reading has always been difficult for me and I didn't read as a child. I always dread this question when it comes up. I do read now though - I'm in a book group and I make a point of reading at least one book per month. Like everything else in life, the more you do it, the easier it gets.

Q: What book do you wish you had written?

Harry Potter! Nuff said!

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Don't give up. A rejection of your story isn't a rejection of you. Read why it was rejected and make the appropriate alterations if necessary - and keep writing!