- I accidentally wrote a crime thriller. I set out to write about the internet, and how people troll, get whipped up into a righteous frenzy, and say things online that they wouldn't say to people's faces. How they forget there's a real person at the other end of the internet. I imagined what would happen if a killer tweeted clues about their next victim - would people retweet? Would you follow a murderer online? And what if they followed you? And Follow Me was born.
- Being diagnosed with a rare degenerative connective tissue disorder made my writing darker. Before I knew I had Ehlers Danlos III (EDS III) I wrote a romantic comedy style memoir of my decade working in the fashion industry: Confessions of a Fashionista. But living with the chronic pain and compromised mobility of EDS III, made me face my own mortality. I'm much more fascinated by the bleaker extremes of life now, of what's lurking in those shadowy corners.
- This year I've dislocated: my little finger, my right hip socket, my jaw, and both shoulders. EDS III makes me prone to dislocations and injury. I'm that comedy sketch skeleton model that has a life of it's own: bits falling off all over the place.
- I love making people laugh. I can't resist dropping a few jokes into my work. There's some wry humour in Follow Me: murder and lols: a winning combination.
- I have five different walking sticks to colour coordinate with my outfits. You can take the girl out of the fashion industry, but you can't take the fashion industry out of the girl.
- I owe my writing career to my physiotherapists. I see them two to three times a week to help keep me walking, typing, working, living. When I was asked to write two more novels in the Social Media Murders Series, to follow on from Follow Me, the first thing I did was ask my physio if I could. Luckily they said yes!
- I love Twitter. It's a fascinating source of articles, programmes, exhibitions, books, knowledge; all delivered right to my phone. You never feel alone with Twitter, you're always at the party.
- I've been trolled. I was sent threatening messages after I wrote about feminism. I used the worst troll tweets in the story of Follow Me. If the people who sent them want to claim them as their own work they're most welcome to: I'll happily tell the world what they wrote.
- My first play was staged in London this year. The Legacy was on at The Hope Theatre, Islington. It was so exciting to see my characters come to life.
- I won the Young Stationers' Prize 2015 for achievement and promise in writing. I've never won anything before. When I was nine I wanted to enter a pumpkin carving competition, but I only had a carrot. I made a caterpillar. I came sixth. Six people entered. This was better.
Follow Me is in eBook and paperback on the 31st December
Follow Me