I write gritty crime, but I’m actually a massive wimp.
I have a very overactive imagination, so although I can read or watch a certain amount of violence, I can’t deal with anything even remotely creepy or scary. This even applies to family friendly films sometimes. I watched Lord Of The Rings a few years ago and ended up having nightmares for three weeks. Pathetic I know!
Emma Tallon
I had no driving motivation in life until about two years ago.
My school reports always read, ‘intelligent but lazy’. More than one boss has said to me, ‘you’re good, but you’d be better if you were more money motivated’. My main focus in life until recently was to have fun and enjoy myself. I mainly thought short term. I was the proverbial grasshopper who sang all summer. But then something magical happened. My son was born and suddenly it was like a light had been switched on, inside my brain. I needed to stop playing and I needed to build him an empire. I have this driving force inside of me every day now, to work as hard as I can and become as successful as I can, so that I can give my son the world; So that I can give him everything I can in life and so that I’m someone he can look up to and be proud of. I have never felt anything stronger or more real, than the need to be successful, for him.
I talk to myself whilst writing.
I have an office at home and apart from when I do the nursery run, I don’t tend to see another human all day. (Except sometimes the postman, who gives me an odd look because I often have crazy hair and a dressing gown over my clothes when I’m working.) So, as there is no one to watch and judge me as a total weirdo, I often speak the narrative out loud as I’m writing, to make sure it flows right.
I have been bitten by a penguin.
Penguins are my favourite animal. Awkward and cute, all rolled up in a bunch of feathers. What’s not to love? On a last minute getaway a couple of years ago to Lanzarote, my other half and I visited a zoo. We were allowed into the penguin enclosure to help feed the birds and stroke them. Except they didn’t love me quite as much as I loved them, so I got a sharp nip for my troubles. Clearly I served the wrong type of fish..
I also write fantasy fiction.
I haven’t tried to publish anything in this genre yet, but I do actually write fantasy fiction in my spare time and have a series of five books planned out. It’s more of a hobby at this point, but I hope to pursue it professionally at some point.
I once sang live on TV.
Back in my early teenage years, my ambition in life was to be a famous singer. I wasn’t actually good enough, but I was ok and I managed to get through auditions to be part of a backing choir for Martine McCutcheons single, ‘Love Me’. We recorded the song and sang it live on Children In Need, in 1999. I was standing in the front row and was looking at the wrong camera, almost the entire time.
I am the most unco-ordinated, clumsy person you’ll ever meet.
If it’s there, I’ll trip over it. If nothing is there, I’ll still trip over. My balance rivals that of a drunk fish, out of water. I have tried various dance classes for fitness over the years and had to give up trying before I really hurt someone. If I go a week without falling down the stairs, or walking into something, I see that as a real achievement. Neither my partner or I can remember the last time I wasn’t covered in bruises. It is a curse that I have had to learn to live with.
As well as my wonderful son, I have three stepsons.
I am severely outnumbered in my household! Half the time it is just myself, my partner and my baby boy and the other half of the time we also have my three strapping stepsons with us. Five boys and little old me! We have such a fantastic time together though and I really couldn’t wish for nicer young men as additions to my little family.
My partner has never read my books.
I guess you could say that my partner and I are a typical example of when opposites attract. We could not be more different, in so many ways. Chalk and cheese. But we compliment each other well. I love to get stuck into a good book, for example. I can get lost for hours in the world of another. But my other half hates to read, so he has never, and will never read one of my works. He does however have great faith that they will all be made into films one day, so has promised to watch those..
I strongly believe in the power of positivity.
Negativity breeds negativity. I hate to spend time around people who constantly moan and point out the bad in life and in people. Those people will never be happy and to spend time with them only drains your own happiness, too. I believe to get the best out of life, you have to surround yourself with the positive thinkers, the smilers, the open-minders. Because their attitude will positively affect yours and ultimately make your day or even your life, that little bit better.
