Name:
Karen McCombie (middle name, Grace, if you're going to get picky).
Born
Yes, I was.
Very funny. When exactly?
28/8/63, since you’re asking. I know that makes me sound not-very-young, but I wear the same sort of clothes (T-shirts, jeans, trainers) as I did when I was 17. And my hair is pretty much the same style too. So’s my brain (ie, it’s full of films, bands, books and silliness).
Where?:
Aberdeen, Scotland. (Think scenic castles, not-so-scenic oil rigs and plenty of thermal underwear and you get a feel for the place.)
Home:
North London, near the amazing Alexandra Palace.
Who else lives in your house?:
A loud, funny Scottish person called Tom (who I'm married to), a lovely little girl called Milly (our four-year-old daughter) and a fat ginger cat called Gus .
How did you get started writing?:
I worked for loads of teen magazines, including ‘J17’ and ‘Sugar’. Over the years (and magazines), I've been a fashion editor, pet correspondent, quiz writer, features writer and sub-editor (a job where no-one knows what you do - but trust me, if there were no sub-editors, magazines wouldn't come out).
OK, so you were a sub-editor and all that other stuff. Then what happened?:
Then my friend Marina - the deputy editor of ‘Sugar’ magazine when it first started - asked me to write some short stories for the magazine. Once I did a few of those, I wrote off to loads of publishers with photocopies of my short stories and ideas for full-length books for teenagers. Lots of publishers wrote back saying, "Thank you, but go away". Luckily, the very cool children's book publishers Scholastic thought I didn't stink and asked me to write some stuff for a series they were doing. After that, Marina - the editor of ‘Sugar’ magazine by this time - wanted to do a series of ‘Sugar’ books (for HarperCollins), and got me involved (I owe her a big hug for that). After I worked on a ton of them, under a pseudonym, I got asked to write a series by Scholastic, which turned out to be Ally's World, as well as a whole bundle of teenage books.
Where do you write your books?:
In the loft room at the top of our house (complete with views of Ally Pally!). I work v.hard ‘cause I only have a little bit of book-writing time – the rest of the day I’m making Playghdough dinosaurs or playing ‘cafés’ with Milly. But sometimes I do end up staring at the clouds, or e-mailing my friends and asking how their weekends/lives/cats are when I should be working. For a change, I work on my lap-top on the kitchen table (usually covered in random cats - the table and me) or in the garden (surrounded by cats, squirrels and inquisitive pigeons).
Are you quite disciplined when it comes to writing?:
Yes.
No, honestly:
Oh, right. Well, sometimes. And then there are the days when I get distracted by cleaning the litter tray, tidying toys, e-mailing my friends and re-arranging drawers.
When you're not cleaning the litter tray, tidying toys, e-mailing friends and re-arranging drawers, what are your hobbies?:
I like reading, watching DVDs, eating crisps, patting cats and belly dancing. Although I don’t have much time to do any of that, as Milly likes to tire me out by being cute all day. Um...
What?:
Is this the end of the factfile?
Yes:
Well, bye, then!