Mica Jay

Q: What were you like at school?

Uninspired until I found a rooftop den to work and imagine I was Galileo.

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

An explorer.

Q: Which three words describe you best?

Busy busy busy

Q: What is your favourite word?

Serendipity

Q: What makes you cringe?

People with loud voices who have nothing to say.

Q: What are you afraid of?

Black holes.

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

Today, reading some Authorhotline profiles.

Q: What is your most treasured possession?

My diaries.

Q: What do you do as a hobby?

Walk and sketch and play the piano if I can find one.

Q: What strange habits do you have?

Writing on any bit of paper I can find - newspapers, tickets, envelopes, the palm of my hand..

Q: What’s your favourite food?

Smoked salmon.

Q: What do you day dream about?

Living on a desert island.

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

Persuade two scientists from Ecuador to follow me across a volcanic wasteland on one of the Galapagos islands in the belief I knew where I was going.

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

Producer of children's animation.

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

I feel younger until I look in the mirror.

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

Albert Einstein - but I'd let him do all the talking.

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

Courage.

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

Brazil and the Amazon jungle.

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

It's not what happens to you but how you cope that matters.

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

Everything -provided I could always change back to me again.

Q: What has life taught you?

Carry on regardless.

Q: How long have you been a writer?

Since I first saw a piece of blank paper and a pencil.

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

When man landed on the moon.

Q: Where do you do your writing?

Anywhere.

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

Writing the first and last paragraphs.

Q: Where do you get your greatest ideas from?

Life around me.

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

All of them.

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

Walk.

Q: What was your favourite book as a child?

Anything with colourful illustrations - perhaps The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery.

Q: What book do you wish you had written?

George Orwell's "Animal Farm".

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Stop twittering and write your book.