I always loved reading as a child and liked stories full of adventure and mystery. My favourite book was The Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton as there was a new adventure waiting for the children every time they climbed the tree! I used to write stories of my own that could take me to magic lands full of mysterious people.
When I left school I worked at different jobs including insurance and selling childrens shoes. I still wanted to write stories but I didn't know what kind of stories I wanted to write.
When I had my children we spent many happy hours reading picture books and this was when I realised that I wanted to write stories for children.
My first three picture books are published by Gullane Children's Books: Happy Birthday Santa, The Teddy Bear Scare and The Smallest Hero. My fourth book is published by Scholastic Children's Books: You Can't Eat a Princess. I have a story included in Wow! 366, an anthology which was released in 2008 to celebrate the National Year of Reading. (You can buy this from Amazon and £1 of every book sold goes to Childline.)
I live with my daughters, Rosie and Eve, in Leeds. They have wonderful imaginations and sometimes I 'borrow' ideas from them. I'm sure they don't mind.
A few questions...
Q. What did you want to be when you were a child?
A. I always wanted to be a writer but it seemed like such an impossible dream.
Q. What do you do as a hobby?
A. Lots and lots of reading, particularly children's books as they are much more fun than 'grown up' books. I like watching films that make me laugh - any Laurel and Hardy films. Is eating chocolate classed as a hobby?
Q. What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?
A. I'd like to zoom into space and discover a new planet.
Q. What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
A. Have fun with your writing. Give your heroes exciting adventures, create fantastic worlds, give your bad guys silly names. These are your stories and your worlds - you can do whatever you want. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't be a published author - you are a wonderful person and you can be whatever you want to be.
There are more questions on the AuthorHotline.