Seeing a book come from nowhere and end up on a shelf in a book shop, Being able to do something I really enjoy as a job, Being able to skive off and see a movie in the afternoon without having to ask anyone’s permission (tee hee)

Occasional panic that I’ve run out of ideas like on a Monday morning where there’s a page that’s blank apart from the words chapter one, page one. And sometimes when I can’t think of the right title, those times give me sleepless nights.

1987. When I first started writing I wrote a number (16) of non fiction books then in 2000, I started writing for teenagers and felt that I had found where I fitted.

Anywhere and everywhere. All over the place. Talking to teenagers, teen mags, newspapers, dreams and sometimes ideas just come from nowhere.

Different with all of them, some are cooking in my head for months before I actually start writing. About 6 months on average once I have worked out the idea.

I sometimes do a page on them in the beginning in three parts, physical – what they look like, social: where they live, who their family is, what their parents do etc then lastly, psychological: what they want, their goals, dreams, ambitions, disappointments, hang ups – everything that makes them the individual they are. After that, I often go through teen mags and see if I can see a picture of someone who looks like I imagine my character then I’ll cut it out and put it on the notice board.

Bit of all of them. I’d say Izzie in the Mates Dates series is the closest in that she’s an Aquarian like me and always asking questions.

Magazines. Newspapers. Googling ‘most popular names’. Oxford dictionary of names. Tatler and Vogue are great for posh names and cemeteries are brilliant places for unusual names.

In the main, yes – for instance in the Mates Dates books, they are set in London and the Truth Dare books, are set in Cornwall. Cinnamon Girl is set in Notting Hill Gate, London and Million Dollar Mates is set in Knightsbridge in London. I do however make the houses, hotels or roads within the area fictional.

Always and I take a camera so that I have a record when I get home in case I forget anything. You can see some of the real locations from the books on the photo gallery pages of this site.

Two of the books in the Mates, Dates series have different titles in the USA to the UK. They are no 3, Mates Dates and Portobello Princesses which is published in the US as Mates, Dates and Designer Divas.

And book 7, Mates, Dates and Pulling Power in the UK has the title Mates, Dates and Sequin Smiles in the USA. The reason for this is:

In the UK, Portobello Road is a trendy place full of market stalls and shops near Notting Hill Gate. In the States Portobello is a type of mushroom! Because of this, the US publishers felt that maybe US readers wouldn’t get the reference to Portobello to mean girls who hang out in Portobello Road so they changed it to Designer Divas.

And Mates Dates and Pulling Power over here was changed to Mates Dates and Sequin Smiles over there because in the UK, to pull means to get off with someone, to score – so someone with pulling power means someone who is a hit with the opposite sex. It doesn’t have the same meaning in the States so once again, the publishers felt that a different title would work better. Exactly the same books inside though.

Mates, Dates series:

• Fiction:
• Mates, Dates and Inflatable Bras
• Mates, Dates and Cosmic Kisses
• Mates, Dates and Portobello Princesses (Designer Divas in the USA)
• Mates, Dates and Sleepover Secrets
• Mates, Dates and Sole Survivors
• Mates, Dates and Mad Mistakes
• Mates, Dates and Pulling Power (Sequin Smiles in the USA)
• Mates, Dates and Tempting Trouble
• Mates, Dates and Great Escapes
• Mates, Dates and Chocolate Cheats
• Mates, Dates and Diamond Destiny
• Mates Dates and Summer Sizzlers
• Mates, Dates Secret Story

Non fiction extras:

• Mates, Dates Guide to Life
• Mates, Dates Guide to Flirting
• Mates Dates Guide to Going Green
• Mates Dates Journal

Truth, Dare, Kiss or Promise series:

• White Lies and Barefaced Truth
• Pop Princess (Princess of Pop in the USA)
• Teen Queens and Has Beens
• Starstruck
• Double Dare
• Midsummer Meltdown
• Love Lottery
• All Mates Together

Dude series:

• Holy Moley, I’m a Dead Dude (now out of print sadly)

Cinnamon Girl series:

• This Way to Paradise
• Starting Over
• Looking for a Hero
• Expecting to Fly

Million Dollar Mates series

• Million Dollar Mates
• Paparazzi Princess
• Catwalk Queen
• Golden Girl (out March 2012)

Zodiac Girl series (you can read these in any order)

• Star Child
• Double Trouble
• Recipe for Rebellion
• Discount Diva
• Dancing Queen
• Brat Princess
• From Geek to Goddess
• Bridesmaids’ Club

Not yet! But fingers crossed they will be one day. It’s not up to me to decide this. It’s up to a TV producer or company.

You can get still get them from your local bookshop! If they haven’t got them in stock, if you ask, they will order a copy for you. They are happy to do this as it only takes a phone call. It usually takes between 3-5 days for the books to arrive and doesn’t cost you anything. You can also get the books on the Internet from www.amazon.co.uk

www.astrologyzone.com and www.alabe.com/freechart

Re the Mates Dates series, the Truth Dare series or the Cinnamon Girl series:
c/o Piccadilly Press
5, Castle Road Kentish Town
London
NW1 8PR

Re the Zodiac Girl series: c/o
Kingfisher
At Pan Macmillan
20 New Wharf Road,
London
N1 9RR

Re the Million Dollar Mates series:
c/o
Simon and Schuster
1^st Floor
222, Gray’s Inn road,
London
WC1X 8HB

This is one of the most frequently asked questions I get from readers, so for all you aspiring writers out there, here are my Tip Top Writing Tips!

*Use your 5 senses when writing a scene: sight – what a place looks like, how it sounds, how it smells, any tastes? And lastly how it feels

*Write every day Don’t blab your story out to everyone. Only show it to those who will give constructive criticism

*Create a sympathetic character that readers will like. Think about what they want more than anything in the world. Then think about lots of things that can get in their way. Then there’s your book.

* Raise questions early on in your book and delay the answers to make readers want to read on to find out what happens.

*Carry a note book as you never know when inspiration will strike

* Write like you speak DonÂ’t throw anything you write away as years later, it may spark something off

*Write the kind of stories you’d like to read

*Write the first draft freely without judging it then rewrite with the rational/logical side of your brain

*Read a lot

*Never give up. Persevere through rejection. Loads of famous novelists had their books rejected first time round but were successful because they didn’t give up.

Stories from the Web: Writers Toolkit

My advice would be to go to your local library and borrow either the Writers’ Handbook published by MacMillan or the Writer’s and Artist’s Yearbook published by A and C Black. They can usually be found in the reference section of most libraries. Failing that you could buy a copy from a bookstore. It tells you just about everything you need to know about getting published, lists all the agents and publishers and tells you what they like to look at in the first instance: whether it be an introductory letter or the first two chapters or just an outline. I would also recommend that if you can do a creative writing course, do so, in fact do a few as there is so much to learn from all of them