Girl, Going on 16: Pants on Fire (31 page)

Where do you live now?
On a remote farm in Gloucestershire.

What were you like at school?
A tomboy-ish nerd.

Have you got brothers and sisters?
One older brother, who’s a jazz musician.

What did you want to be as a child?
Secretary-General of the United Nations (I told you I was a nerd).

How did you start writing?
At age two, I liked doodling the letter ‘S’. When I grew up, I tried teaching, couldn’t cope, and writing seemed to be the only thing possible.

What did you do before you were a writer?
I was a teacher, screaming in vain for quiet while my classes rioted gently around me.

Where do you write?
Anywhere – I particularly like writing on trains. But when I’m at home, in a room with windows opening into a wild wood.

What was your favourite book as a child?
The Railway Children
by E. Nesbit.

What’s your favourite children’s book now?
Where the Wild Things Are
by Maurice Sendak.

What’s your favourite adult book?
Persuasion
by Jane Austen.

What tips do you have for budding writers?
Read a lot!

What’s your favourite TV programme?
Frasier.

What makes you laugh?
Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse as the Surgeons.