Judy Stubley

Q: What were you like at school?

I was a daydreamer in class until exam times, then I became a serious swot.

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

A pilot and failing that an air hostess.

Q: What is your favourite word?

Serendipity - such a happy word.

Q: What makes you cringe?

Seeing myself dance on video.

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

Today, trying to do this questionnaire!

Q: What is your most treasured possession?

My optimism.

Q: What do you do as a hobby?

Reading and working on my family tree.

Q: What’s your favourite food?

Sticky toffee pudding.

Q: What do you day dream about?

Being a story traveller.

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

A cartoonist.

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

Younger - at seventy that's a must!

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

My great grandfather Charles Sellier. He was a mysterious Frenchman: a soldier, a politician, a wine merchant and an editor, who disappeard under strange circumstances.

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

Kindness

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

Tunisia

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

If you don't at first succeed - try, try, again.

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

I would love to be graceful.

Q: What has life taught you?

When one door shuts another door opens.

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

I've wanted to be a writer since I was seven or eight years old.

Q: Where do you do your writing?

Anywhere I feel comfortable.

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

The best is when your story takes on a life of its own. The worst is proof reading.

Q: Where do you get your greatest ideas from?

From people and places.

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

Lucy in The Story Traveller because like her I was bullied at school.

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

I go off and do something else.

Q: What was your favourite book as a child?

Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Q: What book do you wish you had written?

Goodnight Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian.

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Keep writing and remember you learn from your mistakes.