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?
Way too chatty. One of my primary school teachers wrote on my report "Joan suffers from days of excess chatter." I think she meant SHE suffered ...
Q: What did you want to be when you were a child?
A writer, an international spy and a concert pianist. Oh, and briefly, a racing car driver.
Q: Which three words describe you best?
Tall, willowy and unflappable. (Remember I write fiction.)
Q: What is your favourite word?
Mellifluous. Also, ferret.
Q: What makes you cringe?
Mirrors.
Q: What are you afraid of?
Pain. I'm a complete wuss.
Q: What strange habits do you have?
Absolutely none. I am completely normal in all possible ways ...
Q: What do you day dream about?
Pretty much everything I daydream about has to do with the world of the book I'm writing at the moment. Though there are the odd fame and praise fantasies, of course.
Q: What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?
International spy, concert pianist. I'm too cowardly now to try the racing car driver thing.
Q: Do you feel younger or older than your current age?
I'd have to say younger.
Q: If you could meet one person, dead or alive, who would it be?
This may sound a bit ghoulish, but I'd love to be able to talk to my dad who died again - I'd really like to read him the stuff I'm writing now, because I think it would make him laugh.
Q: What quality do you most admire in a person?
Cheerfulness.
Q: What would you most like to change about yourself?
The fact that I'm short, fat and get in a flap way too easily. (See "What 3 words describe you best" above.)
Q: What has life taught you?
Count on change. (That's not "Count your change" though it sounds like it. I can't remember the last time I really did count my change. But I do know that stuff doesn't stay the same, though sometimes that's hard to believe.)
Q: How long have you been a writer?
I started writing when I was about 8.
Q: Was there a specific moment in your life when you decide to become a writer?
If there was, I don't remember it. I think I just always knew.
Q: Where do you do your writing?
I like to be able to write looking out of a window. For that kind of writing I use pen and paper (a nice fine-tipped pen and the backs of print-outs of earlier books). When it's time to put stuff onto the computer, I have a sort of desk thing in the corner of my bedroom.
Q: What are the best and worst things about being an author?
Getting a book accepted. Not getting a book accepted.
Q: Where do you get your greatest ideas from?
Staring out of windows. ALL my ideas come from this - greatest, worst, in-between.
Q: What do you do to combat “writers’ block”?
I write something else, some other sort of writing. That works well for me.
Q: What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Read lots, of course. Write lots, of course. And pay attention. To write well you need your whole brain to be in gear.
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ISBN
9781842705957
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Status
In Print
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ISBN
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Status
In Print
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ISBN
9781842707708
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ISBN
9781842708576
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Status
In Print
The Ferret Princess
ISBN
9781846470646
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Catnip
Status
In Print
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ISBN
9781846470653
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Catnip
Status
In Print
Questors
ISBN
9780141319162
Status
Out of Print
The Seventh Tide
ISBN
9780141319179
Status
Out of Print
Wow! 366
ISBN
9781407107981
Published By
Scholastic
Status
In Print
The Thing that Mattered Most
ISBN
9781845020958
Published By
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Status
In Print
The Night of the Kelpies
ISBN
9781842997581
Published By
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Status
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