Following the release of her debut children’s sci-fi adventure novel, Jo Withers shares the top 10 things her readers should know about her:
Jo Withers
I’m a very impulsive person – sometimes to the point where I seem crazy.
This was demonstrated when I suddenly decided to relocate my entire family from the north of England to Adelaide, South Australia ten years ago. I had a bit of a fantasy in my head about the chilled Aussie lifestyle and convinced my husband to give it a go. Three months later we packed up our house, kids and a very bemused dog and set off on our grand adventure.
I wrote 5 Simple Steps to Saving Planet Earth because I want a little trickle of my craziness to seep through to my readers.
I love to fire up kids’ imaginations by twisting their ordinary world. In the novel, puddles become teleportation devices, aliens hide amongst us and pencils deflate the tentacles of monstrous squids – nothing is what it seems.
I prefer writing for children because they happily embrace the impossible.
I am constantly surrounded by my own or other people’s children (I work in a preschool) and their comments never fail to inspire me. A few days ago, my youngest daughter asked, ‘How does the tooth fairy collect teeth on Mars?’ I started writing on the spot.
When I’m not writing, I’m usually taking care of my twenty-three pets.
I have rabbits, fish, rats, stick insects, a guinea pig, a bearded dragon and a dog who thinks he’s a cat.
I don’t drive.
This wasn’t such a huge problem when I lived in England but in Australia everyone over seventeen drives and people look at me like I’m bonkers when I’m waiting at the bus stop.
I talk to the characters from 5 Simple Steps to Saving Planet Earth in my head daily.
The characters of Billy and the Ysygol came into my head about thirteen years ago. Over the years, I’ve learnt everything about them from what they eat for breakfast to what they dream about at night. They jabber on together constantly and argue all the time. I thought that the voices would stop if I wrote their stories down but unfortunately, it’s just getting worse.
I am unhealthily and irreversibly addicted to cheese.
I’m vegetarian and love cheese in all its forms – melted, grated, baked or gratinated. It makes everything taste heavenly.
I was once dragged on stage by a magician to take part in a knife act.
I still have sweat-soaked, shivery nightmares about this – it was terrifying. I didn’t mind the sharp pointed objects, it was the rows and rows of people staring in my direction.
After avoiding social media for years, I finally started Tweeting.
I love being able to reach out to the world at any moment. Last week I tweeted that I was watching Harlan Coben’s Safe on Netflix and Harlan Coben liked my Tweet.
My life has taught me to…
Always follow your dreams. No matter how winding the path, they take you to the most interesting places.
About the book:
When a tiny alien interrupts Billy Hollingworth’s dreams to tell him that the world will end next Wednesday teatime, he thinks he’s going crazy. But, when the same alien appears in Billy’s back garden, he is forced to begin a terrifying adventure. Soon, our heroes are scared out of their minds and running out of time in outer space. Will the curious leaflet ‘5 Simple Steps to Saving Planet Earth’ be enough to help Billy save the world? It’s available to buy from Amazon, The Book Guild and all good bookshops.