Wordsmoker

1. I ran away from home when I was 2. Well, I wasn’t running away so much as going out to look for my mum to get a refill of orange squash. Luckily, I didn’t get too far. That was the only time she ever spanked me.

2. I was born on a full moon. Seems I turned up three days early just for that very reason.

3. I write, write and write. Finishing something I like is the best feeling in the world. Second best is looking at the clock and marvelling at how time melts away when you’ve been doing really well with the words. It’s like being someone else for a bit. I wouldn’t want to be someone else long-term, but a little holiday from myself is always nice.

4. I was always the tomboy in taffeta as a kid, and once, when I was seven, a boy giving me a piggyback dropped me. There was blood everywhere, but miraculously my nose remained unbroken. I’ve never broken a bone, actually, and no boy has ever dropped me since.

5. I have my grandmother’s eyes, which are also my dad’s eyes, in my mum’s face, which sounds terrifying, but it’s really kind of nice.

6. Both my parents died before my 20th birthday.

7. I am claustrophobic.

8. I don’t think I’ve been in love properly yet – only puppy love, which is more of a phase than a real feeling, I sometimes think.

9. My internal jukebox sometimes really pisses me off, like when I get some Lily Allen nonsense or some godawful Eurovision entry type stuff stuck in there. It can get very repetitive, ol’ jukey. Currently, I’ve got Ladyhawke on, which is fantastic.

10. It takes me aaaaages to fall asleep, usually.

11. I’m glad that I write about film rather than books because I wouldn’t want to start falling out of love with books. Films are clearly inferior, so that’s not a problem.

12. Schizophrenia runs in my family.

13. I love me some internet time, clearly, but I’m glad it wasn’t around when I was growing up, because I would never have done anything else.

14. I’ve sat opposite Chelsea Clinton in a library. She was very polite.

15. I was also at a dinner with her once, and, when she left, everyone rushed up to her vacated spot to steal all the stuff. My friend nabbed me her name card, which I have to this day. Somewhere.

16. The first time I saw The Wizard of Oz, I was coming down with chickenpox, and the two combined gave me the worst nightmares ever. Over 20 years later, I can still remember them. Oh god.

17. Speaking of which, don’t believe in god, never have, but I’m quite interested in why other people do.

18. I’m left-handed. Confused the hell out of my mum when she taught me to write, so she sat opposite me, and got me to mirror her moves. As a result, I am excellent at reading upside-down.

19. Having a crush on someone in the office is the only way to navigate working life. It has sustained me.

20. I love and adore interviewing people.

(although there’s a backlog, you can still email wordsmoker (at) gmail (dot) com with your 20 things)