Once upon a time...

...there was a young girl who devoured books. She read them one handed whilst eating dinner, she splashed them with water when reading them in the bath, and she hid under the covers at night with a torch for the last few pages of a story, so her mum wouldn't see a light on and tell her to go to sleep.


Then that girl grew up ... but not very much changed. Books still occasionally have spaghetti bolognese or bath water speckled on them. Except these days she can stay up as late as she likes, reading by a proper lamp. Now she likes writing stories of her own, and tutoring new book-loving children to write their own too. And, of course, she's hoping her daughter will find the same joy in reading, reading, reading:

(picture taken 17.09.2008, little girl is 6 months old at the time)

Reading and writing are a huge part of my life; I studied English Literature and Creative Writing at Uni, and with my friend Rosie I run creative writing workshops for children. So I was delighted to be given this award by Sian:

I certainly wouldn't call myself a liar, but I probably embellish the truth here and there when telling a story, the same way I embellish photos on a scrapbook page to make it look pretty and interesting! To accept this award I need to tell you a few creative facts about myself, and let you decide which you think are the real deal. You can see Sian's post with her intruiging tales here.

I'll follow the same pattern as Sian, by giving you 5 facts which may, or may not, be true. Leave a comment guessing which of them you think are fact instead of fiction!

1. My Teddy Bear once spoke to me. I was about 5 years old, and her name was Funshine Bear (one of the Care Bears). It was really late at night and I couldn't sleep, when suddenly I heard my teddy say 'Hello'. She never said anything else, so I can only assume she was talking to my dolly and had a bit of a shock when I sat up and tried to speak to her. I'll never know for sure, and you don't have to believe it really happened, you just have to believe that I believe it did.

2. I own a 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' first edition hardback book. Luckily it escaped being splattered with dinner or bath water, so is still in relatively good, though slightly thumbed, condition. It is now kept carefully out of reach of sunlight or toddler fingers! One day I might have to sell it, but for now it's mine all mine.

3. I'm a synesthete. I've got a condition called lexical → gustatory synesthesia,which means that certain words bring an involuntary taste to my mouth, even though they may be nothing to do with the food or drink that I taste. For example if I hear or read words ending in 'th' like 'bath' or 'faith' it makes the taste of sherbet appear on my tongue. It's kind of fun most of the time, and I've always had it so it doesn't feel wierd to me!

4. I'm learning to speak Chinese (Mandarin). I spent 5 months travelling around SE Asia a few years ago, and met other travellers that had been to China and told me what an bustling, beautiful place it was. Next time I go travelling, on my way to New Zealand, I want to stop for a few months in China. It might be a few years before I get to go, but that's okay as it turns out Chinese isn't that easy to learn. Bu Hao.

5. I am a cover girl. Okay, not of a glossy magazine, that would be too far fetched! But if you find yourself wandering into the Jane Austen Centre in Bath you can spot me on the cover of a book called 'Jane Austen TV and film locations guide'. And a photo inside the book too. So I grace the same pages as Kate Beckinsdale, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Winslet. Good enough for me.

Hope you had fun reading these, please let me know which you think may be true, it will be interesting to see how good I am a lying. If I'm really good I can start planning devious things like robbing a bank. Or maybe just telling my hubby I'm doing the housework when actually I'm blogging!

(P.S. Rosie - you can't play, I know you know the answers!)

x

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