Meg Harper

Q: What were you like at school?

Shy and a swot! But I had a group of close friends whom I'm still in contact with - one of them is still one of my closest friends.

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

Two things - a Blue Peter presenter and a children's writer!

Q: Which three words describe you best?

friendly, creative, energetic? Ask my friends!

Q: What is your favourite word?

rigorous!

Q: What makes you cringe?

I don't know till it happens!

Q: What are you afraid of?

Heights, small spaces and crossing big bridges! I only discovered the latter when my oldest son went to uni in Cardiff and I drove across the Severn bridge!

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

Just the other day - but I'm not telling you why! :D

Q: What is your most treasured possession?

My photos of my children when they were little - they're all in a suitcase ready to grab if the house burns down!

Q: What do you do as a hobby?

Swim, walk, read, (I'm in 3 book groups!) There are loads of things I also do that I enjoy but more sporadically - visit art galleries etc, knit, do Tudor re-enactment, bake...life is too short!

Q: What strange habits do you have?

I don't sleep much - people find that very strange! And I clean my teeth so much the dentist had to tell me to stop!

Q: What’s your favourite food?

Good scones with a pot of tea. Great soup.

Q: What do you day dream about?

Having an Irish wolfhound.

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

I can't say!!! But it seemed fairly outrageous not to send my children to school for 14 years and to educate them at home!

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

I multi task anyway - I run a youth theatre and I'm a counsellor - but I've always fancied being a midwife or an alternative undertaker - just to go for the extremes!

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

Obviously I must feel younger - a close friend recently told me that I dressed inappropriately - oh dear!!!

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

Dead - St Paul - I'd have some challenging questions for him! Alive - Jamie Oliver - I so admire his 'can do' attitude.

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

The passion to want to do something and to see it through

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

Stockport! I was born there which makes me slightly biased but it has so much to offer the tourist! Hatworks is one of the few museums I have deliberately visited more than once, the air raid shelters cut into the riverbanks are fascinating, there's also the unique Staircase House and loads more besides! Oooh - when can I next go?

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

In the end, you are on your own.

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

I would like to be braver.

Q: What has life taught you?

To expect to be surprised.

Q: How long have you been a writer?

Professionally, since 1997 but I've been writing on and off since I was about 6.

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

Yes - when I was a teacher and I realised that if I was going to do it, I had to start! So I started getting up early to teach myself to type!

Q: Where do you do your writing?

In my study. It's a real privilege! I used to have a space on the landing and I felt like ring-fencing it with barbed wire!

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

The best thing is that it has given me opportunities to do things I never expected - like trips to China and Moscow, like helping children to write and publish their own books, like running a kids' book group and an adult's creative writing group, like writing a book for teenagers with spinal cord injuries...and so on. I'm not going to dwell on the worst things! :D

Q: Where do you get your greatest ideas from?

Anywhere and everywhere! But I do love looking for the gaps in other stories! Hence my books 'Fur' and 'Piper'.

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

Kate in the 'My Mum' books.

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

I don't get it! My life is a crazy mix of professional writing and other things - so if I get time to write, it's a privilege and I have to get on with it!

Q: What was your favourite book as a child?

There were many - but I particularly loved 'Little House in the Big Woods' by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Q: What book do you wish you had written?

'Holes' by Louis Sachar

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Read! The more you read, the better writer you will be!