I’m a qualified solicitor (and a half-qualified barista). I left a career in corporate law to become a writer. I also once did half a barista course, meaning I can at least make a half-decent cup of coffee, or a very small one.
Paul Howarth
I’m British and Australian. I was born and grew up in the North East of England, lived in various places around the country, then moved to Melbourne when I was twenty-nine. I’m back in the UK now, but am a citizen of both countries and wouldn’t rule out living in Australia in the future. My family and I all loved our life out there.
I once rode an ostrich. The idea is to steer them by the neck, a bit like a joystick, but when the ostrich twists its head fully around to look at you, while you’re still hurtling along, there is no question who’s in charge here, and all you can do is cling on.
I love to cook, particularly on the BBQ, even if the weather’s miserable outside. I’ve been known to stand out there with a brolly and a torch, my breath pluming in the air. A particular favourite is breakfast, the full English, complete with barbequed eggs.
I can tie a mean ponytail. There are four girls plus me in our house, if you include the cat, and with two young daughters I’ve had to hone my hairdressing skills from scratch. I haven’t progressed to plaits yet—that feels like a leap too far!
I’m very promiscuous when it comes to books. I’ll often have a couple on the go at once, and will give up on anything I don’t like. There are too many good novels out there to suffer through something you’re not enjoying.
I work in a shed. OK, it’s a bit more than a shed, but it’s in the garden anyway. The study became the nursery when our second daughter was born, so I fixed up a storage shed/workshop outside and that’s now my (more peaceful!) office instead.
A kangaroo once ambushed me going to the loo. This was in Australia, along the Great Ocean Road—I stumbled out of the campervan just before dawn and wandered bleary-eyed to the toilet block, only to find a six foot buck kangaroo squaring up to me on the path. I backed away pretty quickly. Maybe his need was greater than mine.
Like the characters in my novel, I’ve mustered cattle on horseback and swagged out under the stars. Admittedly I was a tourist, but I once did a farmstay in rural Queensland and the memories of that work, and being in that place, have stayed with me ever since, and I’m sure contributed to setting a novel in the Queensland bush.
I like to run. Writing is very sedentary, and very bad for your body as a result, so if I can I like to get out for a run at the end of the day. It’s incredibly cathartic, the mindless focus on step after step, and also provides some great thinking time, although the challenge is then to remember those ideas as exhaustion sets in.
