Helena Pielichaty

Q: What were you like at school?

Unremarkable but a competent manageress of the tuck shop in Y6

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

I don’t think I had any plans apart from getting through it

Q: Which three words describe you best?

Future national treasure

Q: What is your favourite word?

Yorkshire

Q: What makes you cringe?

Noisy eaters

Q: What are you afraid of?

Losing my marbles

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

At something I read in a book today but I can’t tell you what it was as it was quite rude

Q: What is your most treasured possession?

My specs

Q: What do you do as a hobby?

The odd bit of witchcraft now and again

Q: What strange habits do you have?

Following Huddersfield Town AFC

Q: What’s your favourite food?

Fresh fruit salad with thick cream

Q: What do you day dream about?

The usual becoming rich thing (but without the fame part)

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

Walked along the outside edge of a viaduct with goodness knows what drop below

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

Estate Agent (I love looking round people’s houses)

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

About the same

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

Dawn French. I think we’d get on.

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

Sense of humour and the ability to put people at their ease

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

A salt mine in Poland

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

Dress smart in the classroom

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

To stop fretting over things that I can’t change or that haven’t happened

Q: What has life taught you?

It’s too short to waste on people who don’t ‘get’ you

Q: How long have you been a writer?

25 years (excluding the diary years)

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

Still haven’t really decided

Q: Where do you do your writing?

In a study off the living room and in my head when driving (not recommended)

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

Best: the varied life you lead and the unexpected things you get asked to do Worst: filling in forms like this!

Q: Where do you get your greatest ideas from?

Life

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

Do something else then come back to the page. Thinking time is as important as writing time.

Q: What was your favourite book as a child?

The Family from One End Street by Eve Garnett

Q: What book do you wish you had written?

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 ¾ by Sue Townsend

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Read everything. Get a mentor (mine was Gwen Grant)