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
Heather Butler
http://www.heatherbutler.infothesiding@btinternet.com
To download this profile page, click HERE
Q: What were you like at school?
I was noisy and found school difficult even though I tried to be good. I need to do things to help me learn. Last century we were expected to sit still, listen and then write with perfect spellings. I retreated in to my own little world where it was safe. I did loads of sports (netball, hockey, athletics) at a high level and loved a couple of English teachers I had who encouraged the creativity lurking beneath the scruffy handwriting.
Q: What did you want to be when you were a child?
A teacher who made learning interesting.
Q: Which three words describe you best?
extrovert, creative, enthusiastic
Q: What is your favourite word?
random
Q: What makes you cringe?
when someone is struggling to do something and everyone is watching but not helping.
Q: What are you afraid of?
joining motorways when there are lots of lorries and the roads are very busy
Q: When did you last have a really good laugh?
at the school I teach in 2 days a week the teachers played pass the parcel with forfeits.
Q: What is your most treasured possession?
i love my shed. It was built for me by my husband and older son for all my props and no one goes in there except me. It has a Winnie-the-Pooh sign on it - Heatherton House.
Q: What do you do as a hobby?
Read whenever I can. I am a very slow reader and forget what I have read so I can read a book 3 times and not remember the story line! I love eating out with friends and escape to Sarasota, Florida whenever I can. Does travelling to Manchester or Peckham whenever we can to see our sons and their wives count as a hobby?
Q: What strange habits do you have?
I talk to my sat nav. She is called Emily and she never gets cross with me when I get lost. I lay my clothes out each evening on the bathroom floor. We recently had underfloor heating put in so they are nice and warm for me to put on in the morning.
Q: What’s your favourite food?
roast lamb dinner
Q: What do you day dream about?
I rarely have time to day dream. I know I don't want to be famous. I enjoy my life too much as it is. If I do have a few moments to myself my brain will often take in several things I've recently come across and start creating a story.
Q: What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve done?
In public, given a head teacher at a school I was teaching at, no option but to dress up as a banana.
Q: What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?
trying out holidays for travel companies
Q: Do you feel younger or older than your current age?
younger
Q: If you could meet one person, dead or alive, who would it be?
Jesus
Q: What quality do you most admire in a person?
loyalty
Q: What is the most interesting place you have ever visited?
Iceland (not the shop, the country, 3 hours in a plane north of London)
Q: What is the best advice anyone has ever given you?
today is the first day of the rest of your life
Q: What would you most like to change about yourself?
I'm impatient
Q: What has life taught you?
that giving people a second chance is the best way forward, that loyalty in friendships is really important, that God exists, that you can achieve big things by breaking what has to be done in to little steps you can complete, that being jealous of what other people has doesn't make you happy.
Q: How long have you been a writer?
first book was pubished 13 years ago
Q: Was there a specific moment in your life when you decide to become a writer?
At about 8 years old, I had to read the red labelled books (they were for children who found reading really difficult and were so boring) and decided that when I grew up I was going to write books that sparkled and were funny so children like me would enjoy reading.
Q: Where do you do your writing?
My computer which is by the back door, next to the kitchen.
Q: What are the best and worst things about being an author?
Best is having something to do with all the creative thoughts that buzz round my brain. Worst is that I miss things that are gong on because I have to write.
Q: Where do you get your greatest ideas from?
Anything. Tescos is good as I look out for characters I'm writing about then make sure my trolley follows them.
Q: Which of your own characters do you most identify with?
I want to write all of them because I usually write about situations I know.
Q: What do you do to combat “writers’ block”?
I never have it.
Q: What was your favourite book as a child?
My amazing mum used to read loads and loads to me, every night and extra on Sundays. We had a huge book of poems with a green and cream cover that belonged to my sister and she read those. I loved Malcolm Saville's mystery and Enid Blyton's secret seven books where all the children drank ginger beer and ate tomatoes.
Q: What book do you wish you had written?
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Q: What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Withdraw in to your own world and get whatever is in your brain on paper, whether it be by drawing or on the computer or long hand, whatever suits you best.
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