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?
Discombobulated
Q: What did you want to be when you were a child?
An archaeologist – the one who discovers an ancient city paved with gold in the deepest depths of the Amazon jungle.
Q: Which three words describe you best?
Upbeat … Zany …Intrepid …. when the sun shines.
Q: What is your favourite word?
Beguiling
Q: What makes you cringe?
Feet on train seats.
Q: What are you afraid of?
Rats
Q: When did you last have a really good laugh?
Yesterday, reading Andy Stanton’s Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear
Q: What is your most treasured possession?
A portrait of my now grown-up daughter aged ten painted by her Dad.
Q: What strange habits do you have?
Never eating chocolate before dark. Never watching TV before dark (except for the World Cup)
Q: What’s your favourite food?
Mangoes
Q: What do you day dream about?
It’s sunrise at Uluru, and I’m there.
Q: What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve done?
I was a teenager … old enough to know better … but did it anyway.
Q: What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?
Lyricist – I’ve had one attempt (www.thedreamsnatcher.com) and found it exhilarating, thrilling in fact, the next best thing to being a composer – but it’s light years beyond me to write music, let alone music that holds an audience entranced from the first notes to the last.
Q: If you could meet one person, dead or alive, who would it be?
My Dad’s father’s father, to discover if the stories about who he was are true.
Q: What quality do you most admire in a person?
Wisdom + a sense of humour.
Q: What is the most interesting place you have ever visited?
Uluru in the Red Centre of Australia.
Q: What is the best advice anyone has ever given you?
Dare to take a risk, dare to fail, dare to try again.
Q: What would you most like to change about yourself?
My handwriting.
Q: What has life taught you?
Don’t keep your best clothes for best.
Q: How long have you been a writer?
I wrote my first story at junior school. It’s about a pirate who had a pet shark. A few years ago I took a break from writing children’s books to write plays, and now I write both.
Q: Was there a specific moment in your life when you decide to become a writer?
No.
Q: Where do you do your writing?
Mostly on a computer in a room that won’t keep tidy. Sometimes on a small laptop or in a notebook wherever I happen to be.
Q: What are the best and worst things about being an author?
HEART LIFTING: That moment I finish a story and know it works. HEART SINKING : That moment part way through a story when I know it’s not working.
Q: Where do you get your greatest ideas from?
Once I begin a story, I rarely remember how or where I got the idea.
Q: What do you do to combat “writers’ block”?
I can always write something but that’s not saying I always like what I write or imagine anyone else will – I wish!
Q: What was your favourite book as a child?
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.
Q: What book do you wish you had written?
There are so many books I love and admire but I’ll opt to read them rather than wish I’d written them.
Q: What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Do as the Oompa-Loompas* did when they were rowing in the dark down a river – they didn’t know where they were going, but kept on rowing. If you don’t have a boat, or even if you have, keep writing! *Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
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THE DREAM SNATCHER
ISBN
978 190 301 574 2
Published By
BARN OWL BOOKS
Status
In Print -
JOE LION’S BIG BOOTS
ISBN
978 075 341 6891
Published By
KINGFISHER
Status
In Print -
YETI BOY
ISBN
978 000 675 4534
Status
Out of Print -
BIG PUSS, LITTLE MOUSE
ISBN
0 590 13641 0
Status
Out of Print -
COPING WITH BOYS
ISBN
0 439 99881 6
Status
Out of Print -
Cat's Witch
ISBN
0 09 973820 1
Status
Out of Print -
CAT’S WITCH AND THE MONSTER
ISBN
0 09 995600 4
Status
Out of Print -
CAT’S WITCH AND THE WIZARD
ISBN
13579108642
Status
Out of Print -
EMILY H AND THE ENORMOUS TARANTULA
ISBN
0 590 55831 5
Status
Out of Print -
BIG BRAVE BROTHER BEN
ISBN
978-0749712129
Status
Out of Print
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