Jane’s Room
Hello! Do come on in and explore if you would like to learn a little bit about my life and what it’s like to be an author.
I have been published since 2014 and so far, have written five books, A Room Full of Chocolate, How to Fly with Broken Wings, Swimming to the Moon and Moon Dog and am already working very hard on my sixth book.
When I am writing a book, the characters live in my head during the day and in my dreams at night and become my friends. When I finish a book and send it out into the world, I actually really miss their company. It’s a special feeling though to know that I have created Sasha, Marcus, Grace, Bee, Nell, Willem, Delilah, Michael, Megan and the rest of them for you to be friends with. I hope you enjoy meeting them and let them into your hearts.
It’s so special for me to know that my books are enjoyed by young people but also old! A lot of adults tell me that they relish my books too. I love writing for eight to thirteen- year olds but a lot of older teenagers have loved my books, especially How to Fly with Broken Wings and Swimming to the Moon which they can relate too. I’ve been really moved that several teenagers have told me that Swimming to the Moon is the first book they have ever read.
I loved it that one school had a naughty boy’s reading club for How to Fly with Broken Wings!
Being an author is brilliant and has changed my life completely! It’s very hard work, as anything worthwhile is but it’s bought me many priceless experiences which I shall tell you about in a minute.
But first I wanted to share with you what inspires me. Occasionally kind people have said to me things like “You can stay in my cottage, to be inspired.” Or “Why don’t you rent somewhere near the sea for your inspiration?” But the truth is that I am inspired by the raw rhythm and beats of an urban city. I am inspired by the conversations and clatter and chatter and diversity around me in North West London. I love where I live as it has the best of both worlds. I am right in the thick off London life but five minutes up the road and I am on the heath where many of my characters go to escape.
How to Fly with Broken Wings and Will You Catch Me? are both set on the Beckham Estate in North West London and Delilah from Moon Dog also lives there.
Below is a picture of the Beckham Estate that my friend José, who is an architect drew for me.
Being an author is quite a strange job in that it has two extremes. One part of the job is of course the writing where you have to spend weeks by yourself writing, writing, writing especially when you are on deadline! I am dyslexic and have dyspraxia so it’s important to me to be really comfortable when I write, I love to wear my P.J’s and snuggle up on the sofa with my laptop. This way it makes it feel like fun because I find I can be more creative when I am relaxed. I can only write for a few hours before my dyslexia makes me feel dizzy and I have to curl up in a ball for a little rest before I can carry on. However, dyslexia is a gift because your brain is wired differently which really helps with my creativity. Visit my Gift of Dyslexia room if you want to find out more.
The second part of the job is going out in public to festivals and schools to meet my readers, this is an experience I treasure. To be able to talk to the young people who have made friends with my characters. If you want to find out more about my school visits press here.
One of the most precious things is that people have shared with me that my books change lives. I know of three boys who when reading, How to Fly with Broken Wings, recognised that they were like Willem in my book, who has Asperger’s Syndrome. As a result, they opened up to talk to an adult about how they were feeling inside.
My best Christmas present ever, was when a teacher shared with me that some children have gone for help after reading Will You Catch Me? Nell, in my story has a mum who is addicted to alcohol. I am an advocate for the charity Nacoa – The National Association for Children of Alcoholics. I call them my Nacoa family! They run a helpline for children who want to talk to someone in confidence. If you are going through this at home and would like to find out more about Nacoa or if you feel you are like Willem in How to Fly with Broken Wings please press here to take you to the Special Blue Book Section of my website which is for children who are going through any of the issues in my books.
One of the most exciting things is that my books have won nine literary awards to date. I will never forget the first one I won, which was the Leeds Book Award in 2015 for A Room Full of Chocolate. Its’s special to me that the awards I have won have been voted for by the children themselves. Here is a clip from the Leeds Book Award.
A Room Full of Chocolate is my debut novel and it was inspired by certain things that happened to me when I was young. I was six when my mum was ill and I was sent to live on a farm in Yorkshire to live with my grandad. He wasn't like the one in A Room Full of Chocolate. This is a picture of the farm I lived on.
Can you spot the tiny row of cottages? This is where I got the idea for Megan’s cottage. On Easter day everyone gave me chocolate eggs and I remember realizing that my mum must be ill as people felt sorry for me.
Many, many, years later I enrolled in a writing for children course at City Lit. We were given an exercise to write a story inspired by our childhood and A Room Full of Chocolate was born.
This is a photograph of me when I was 8 with a bad haircut and with my grandad’s very naughty but lovable Golden Retriever, Justy. This of course is where the inspiration for Lara came from in A Room Full Of Chocolate. My grandad had cows and sheep and pigs, though not one called Claude. I wish he had though. It would have been brilliant to have had a pet pig!
This is me with my pet rabbit, Flopsy. He used to eat everything. He ate washing off the clothesline. He ate the corner of my school bag and my homework! He also used to escape all the time and we would get phone calls from neighbours saying that he was destroying their gardens.
My dyslexia was not spotted at school, so I was always in trouble for my messy spelling and writing! This made me hate school but I always loved stories. I was once made to stand up and read what I had written in class. I had not written a thing so I made up a story on the spot. In secondary school my stories were described as too sensational by my English teacher but passed under the desk by the pupils who read them in secret during science lessons.
When I left school, I became an actress and did a lot of improvisation. One day I entered a writing competition at the Soho Theatre for fun with a short play called, Can You See Me. It won a place on the shortlist and part of the prize was a day of workshops. I really enjoyed it and became hooked. Jonathan Lloyd at Soho Theatre told me I should become a writer. I laughed and said, “But I can't spell.” His reply was, “I don't really care it’s the story that matters.” So I thought, all right then I'll give it a go. I then wrote a full-length play called Leonardo Stole My Crayon which won the Kings Cross Award For New Writing.
Thank you for coming to Jane’s Room and learning a bit about how I became an author.
My birthday is in May so this is me being a May Queen when I was 8.