Brief
Background
I grew up in a village in West Yorkshire and moved to London when I came
here to University. I've lived in Wimbledon ever since and love it here,
but still refer to Yorkshire as 'home' and definitely still have my Yorkshire
accent! I live with Robert, my husband, and BoBo my old Old English Sheepdog.
Writing
I suppose I did always want to be a writer but didn't think it was allowed
as a career choice! English was definitely my favourite subject at school
and I just loved writing stories. When my sister, Felicity, and I shared
a bedroom we used to tell each other 'Caravan stories', pretending we
were travelling around the world in a converted bus and describing the
places we went to, the people we met and the adventures we had. Hey, I
think there might be a book there!
My
Working Day
I'd love to say that I get up at the crack of dawn, go for a run and write
until it's dark, but quite frankly, I don't. I don't even give myself
a target of writing so many words a day because I think that would put
me under too much pressure. I do at least attempt to write something every
day, but some days I just know it's not going to happen, so rather than
sit there getting frustrated I pack up, walk away, do something completely
different and come back to it fresh the next day. Fortunately that doesn't
happen very often.
I like to go to the gym just to give my brain a bit of a rest and my body
a bit of a work-out. But my writing is my priority so if I've got a really
tight deadline I sit at my lap-top and go for it. I probably write best
in the afternoon when everything's had a chance to warm up and so sometimes
I write well into the evening. If I'm totally involved with a chapter
or animation episode, I can't leave it until it's finished.
Hobbies
I absolutely adore my dog BoBo and love taking him for walks on the Common.
We used to walk for miles every day, but now that he's rather an old man
we just have a short walk in the morning. Then he often sits under my
desk as I write, which is lovely, especially when he starts snoring as
that always makes me smile!
I go to the gym and run as often as I can. I play the piano and read as
much as possible. There's nothing better than getting together with friends
and having a laugh - I'm a great believer in laughter being the best medicine.