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Joan Lennon |
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Joan Lennon lives in the Kingdom of Fife in Scotland, on the River Tay. She has a husband, four tall sons, two short cats, and a miscellaneously sized group of piano pupils. Joan was born in Canada. Questors is her first book for Puffin and The Seventh Tide is her second.
Read Joan's guest blogs at puffin.co.uk.
Place of birth and birthday?
I was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and my birthday is 21 February.
What is your favourite book?
Anything by Terry Pratchett.
What is your favourite song?
There is nothing I could possibly put here that would make me look cool …
What is your favourite film?
Lord of the Rings trilogy, extended DVD version, ESPECIALLY the commentaries by the hobbits. Those were the first commentaries I ever heard, and nothing since has held a candle to them, though I keep hoping.
What is your most treasured possession?
Whatever I’m wearing at the moment. If there were a fire and I had to run out into the street, I would really hate to have to do that naked.
When did you start writing?
At eight, I think.
Where do your ideas and inspiration come from?
Anything that I’ve ever seen or heard or read or felt goes into the soup between my ears. Then I just look out of the window and wait to see what floats to the top. Sometimes it’s cream and sometimes it’s scum. Is this image of the inside of my head grossing you out? Me too, but that’s pretty much how it works.
Can you give three tips to becoming a successful author?
One: Read a lot.
Two: Write a lot.
Three: PAY ATTENTION! No, really, just listen for a second.
I'm a piano teacher. I know how to teach my pupils the things they need to know to get the piano to make sounds. Then they practise (a little), bring something back to me, play it through. It's not bad, but it's not music. "Okay, do it again," I say, "and this time don't just play me the notes, like a tiny demented machine with something else altogether on its mind - PAY ATTENTION!" And sometimes they do. Sometimes they pay attention 100 percent to what they're sitting there doing, and you know what? They give me music!
To be a writer of course you've got to read. Read everything - good things, bad things, middle-of-the-road things. It's all to the good, IF you're paying attention when you do it. Of course you've got to talk to people, listen to people, watch people - just make sure you're really really doing that, with your whole brain, not just a bit of it. And of course you've got to write, and I'll tell you what. If you write with 100 percent of your brain in gear, really focussing, really paying attention, then I'm going to be so proud of you!
You'll have given me music!
What is your favourite place in the world and why?
Scotland. Because in Scotland you’d have to try really hard to find a window that wasn’t worth looking out of.
What are your hobbies?
Reading, ping pong and cat-stroking.
If you hadn’t been an author, what do you think you would have been?
More of what I do already – being a piano teacher. On the other hand, the whole international spy thing was always a career possibility.
