Seven things I'd like my readers to know about me by Fíona Scarlett, author of Boys Don’t Cry

1. I didn’t always want to be a writer. It wasn’t even on my radar, writing was something that I never thought I’d be able to do. I always adored reading, and lived in our local library, but it wasn’t until I was about 35 that the idea of becoming a writer started to take hold.

2. Music was my first love. I absolutely adore music, and play the piano. Both my parents are musicians and the house was always full of it. I did music in college, and was always funnily enough drawn to composition, I had thought of becoming a composer at one stage, but never really pursued it, I would love to try my hand at composing for film or TV down the line at some stage if the opportunity ever arose.

3. I am a primary school teacher. I have worked in education for about seventeen years. I am currently a special educational needs teacher, and my favourite age group to teach are 3-5 year olds. I also have a masters in early childhood education.

4. I wanted to be a paediatric nurse when I grew up. This was the only thing I wanted to do for a long time until the music took over. I have always been drawn to working with young children, and am passionate about caring for those most vulnerable, I just ended up doing it through education rather than nursing.

5. I am a founding member of VWG. The Virtual Writing Group is a support network for all writers at any stage of their craft. We post weekly prompts and information for writers, answer questions and offer encouragement in a non-competitive environment. You can visit us on Twitter on @virtwriting. Please pop by to say hello, we would love to see you.

6. I am a Mammy to two wonderful children. I have two children, a boy and a girl, thirteen and eleven. I was once told by another writer to take mother out of my bio as it diminished my “work”. But I am proud to be a mammy and to show my children how to keep at something you really want, and to follow those dreams.

7. I would love to write for pre-school TV. This is something that I have wanted to do for a while. I love pre-school TV. It is so incredibly sharp and funny and you have to be at the absolute top of your game to pull it off, so CBeebies, if you’re watching, give me a call.