I absolutely love reading interviews with published authors and illustrators, they are so inspirational. But have you ever wondered how an interview with an unpublished  author would go?

(These questions have been inspired, OK copied pretty much, from the wonderful Kids’ Book Review website)

1. What does a typical day look like for you?

I get up at 7am, and immediately turn on the coffee machine. I have of course been pressing snooze on my alarm since 4am because I live in hope that one day I will be like Murakami, rising at 4am and writing for 5 hours, before running 10km. Ha!

Get the kids out the door for school and Uni, then begin my daily writing routine.

 

 

 

 

Daily writing routine:

Step 1: Pick up Herman and Rosie and re-read it for the thousandth time while shedding a few tears because:

1. the story is so beautiful.
2. it is set in New York, and I especially want to go to New York.
3. I realise I will never write or draw anything remotely as wonderful as Gus Gordon does.

Step 2 – Do some menial jobs around the house such as vacuuming or washing up, as this is when I get my best ideas.

Step 3 – Write my new ideas down in one of my many, many, idea notebooks.

Step 4 – Sit down to write a book using one of my ideas.

Step 5 – Remember that an idea is not a story. The idea is not much use without a story and a ‘voice’.

Step 6 –  Go searching for this elusive story and voice. Try all the usual places, under the lounge cushions and in the letterbox.

Step 7 – Pick up Herman and Rosie again. Repeat steps 1-6 at least one more time, before giving up and settling down to do my Uni work.

2. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you. 

When I was in Primary School, I wrote masses of love songs and poems, and sent them all to Boy George. I am still waiting for one in return.

3. Describe your writing style in 10 words. 

In the process of being discovered, unearthed, and explored.

4. Tell us five positive words that describe you as a writer. 

Aspiring, hopeful, little red caboose.

5. What book character would you be, and why?

Rosie from Herman and Rosie. She lives in New York, she can sing Jazz, and she has a friend who is an oboe playing crocodile.

6. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be? 

Possession by A.S. Byatt. I have read it multiple times, but I skip all the tricky Victorian poetry. If I got tired of reading it, I could tackle the poetry and that would keep me going for quite a while longer.

7. What keeps you going as an unpublished writer for children? 

I have this vision of seeing a child literally hugging a book that I have written, and I hope to see it come true one day.

I will stop here because who want to read an interview with an unpublished author anyway? 

Lauren Child commented during her recent SWF talk, that many people over the years had doubted her credibility to be able write for children, because she was not a mother. (She became a mother only five years ago).

In my experience, I have found the opposite to be true. Sometimes I think being a mother has hindered my ability to write a good story.

As an example, a few years ago I had an idea for a junior novel set in space. When I started researching what it’s like going into space, I thought, What kind of mother would actually let their kid go into space? Space is a dangerous place! And it can seriously mess with your health and maybe shorten your life.

It was a total creative buzz kill. My story about kids going in space is still waiting to be written.

A year or so ago, I did a writing for children course with Jess Black, and I have written in my notes from that day, ‘Put pressure on your character – it’s not mean’.

She explained to us that sometimes she felt like she was being so cruel to her protagonist, pushing her to breaking point with problem, after problem…. but that is what makes a good story.

In my own life, I am around my children quite a lot, and I try to protect them from danger, but as a writer, I think I need to do the opposite. Get the adults out of the picture as much as possible, and let the kids be the heroes and solve the problems.