Last spring, an Australian teen book blogger contacted me about my Red Hair article and wanted to put it on her website. Of course, I said yes. When she heard I had a book coming out, she asked to interview me for her site. I was all over that idea! My very first interview.

This is the way I remember us meeting, but since I’m so old, and I’m about to feel much, much older in a minute (and you’ll know immediately why), I could have some of the facts wrong. Between the marketing and the writing, it’s really hard for me to remember that far back these days. However I met Steph Bowe, she did a very nice interview of me, and I appreciate it. Just the other day, I dropped by her site and you would not believe what I saw! It’s one of those lovely shocks that made me so happy for her, I knew I had to get her over here for an author interview. Yes, I said author. Did I mention Steph is sixteen?

Welcome Steph! Tell us a little about you.

I’m a 16-year-old YA author represented by Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown. My debut novel – a story about love, loss and garden gnomes – will be published by Text Publishing in September 2010 in Australia & New Zealand and by Egmont USA in America in Summer 2011.

• What’s on your iPod or CD player?
• At the moment, these songs are on constant rotation: ‘Lola’ by The Kinks, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by Dire Straits (beautiful song!), ‘Short Skirt/Long Jacket’ by Cake and absolutely everything by The Killers, Matchbox Twenty and Cobra Starship.
• What are your hobbies that don’t have to do with writing?
• Dancing! Not in public. Also singing, photography, reading (obviously!), blogging, acting, playing with my dog…
• Where do you see yourself in ten years?
• I’ll be 26 in ten years time… wow! So I’ll definitely still be writing, and hopefully publishing. I’ll have long finished high school, and hopefully a creative writing degree. I’d love to have a job in writing or publishing – working at a newspaper or as an editor in a publishing house. I want to stay close to my family… and I think that’s about it! I’m not super ambitious. I just want to be happy.
• What are you reading now?
• Solace & Grief by Foz Meadows – a vampire YA set in Australia, but that’s refreshingly different than other vampire YA. I also just finished Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan, which isn’t out until April, which I absolutely LOVED and you would be wise to get your hands on the moment it’s released.
• Do you know how to cook? What’s your specialty?
• I can cook, but not much! My specialty is definitely cakes and I make great healthy muffins – banana and dried fruit. I also make a mean tomato-and-cheese toastie. My mum’s trying to teach me to cook, but I’m a bit klutzy and forgetful so it doesn’t tend to work out well!
• What’s the coolest writing-thing that’s happened to you since you sold your first book?
• Meeting my Australian publisher for the first time was pretty cool – all the people at the publishing house are really lovely. Everyone was really impressed with me – since I’m young, I think – and it was so strange! I’m not used to being the centre of attention.
• Go on, give us some writing advice. You know you want to!
• Read a lot, write a lot & send your work out there! If you stay committed to your goals, you will achieve them – so persist!

Thanks, Steph for the great interview. And congratulations on your upcoming book!