Maybe after this interview I can sit myself down and have a serious conversation about daily routines!

5. What motivates you to write?

Honestly, I’m a horrible person when I don’t – and that’s a large part of what keeps me writing, even when I don’t have anything to say. Fortunately for me, I often have something to say for myself (as my mother will vouch for). I tend to get my claws stuck in something and then I’m away. My first pamphlet, A Z-hearted Guide to Heartache, gave me space to touch on lots of things, so in bitesize chunks I was able to deal with: broken homes, disabilities, relationships, both good and bad. The subjects might seem broad, but I suppose, in having something personal to say about them, I felt spurred on to write the poems.

My second pamphlet, which is coming later this year, was very much motivated by personal issues again but ones that I know apply to many, many people. It’s called Body Talk and it discusses ‘food problems’ that people develop, that I have had brushes with myself (since dieting, and going in the opposite direction to comfort eating), and airing that kind of thing – having the freedom, even, to air that kind of thing – was a great motivator when writing.

6. What is your work ethic?

Intense – too intense, I think some would say. In an earlier answer I commented that I write compulsively when I’m working on a project; I suppose, across the board, I try to give everything ‘All’ all the time. It’ll backfire on me sooner or later and I’ll need a rest, but hopefully that time will be when I’ve got a few best-sellers out there and I can afford some downtime (a girl can dream).

7. How do the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

I think, as I’ve said above, I was introduced to a lot of the older poets and my formal education in poetry consistently relied on them, so they haven’t influenced me in a conventional way. The poets I read when I was in school influence me but in a ‘aim to be more accessible to everyone’ kind of way. It’s the poets who I read now – Neil Hilborn, Andrea Gibson (for performance) and the likes of Andrew McMillan and Alex Reed – who really have an influence on me, more so than anything I read as a child or teenager.

8. Who of today’s writers do you admire the most and why?

Oops – I’ve sort of started to answer this above. For stage performance, I could go on forever: Neil Hilborn always makes me write something; Andrea Gibson was one of the first performance poets who I fell for entirely because their style is cutting but beautiful and it always leaves me feeling something; Rudy Francisco has a wonderful spoken delivery and he’s such a personable poet, he could be delivering each piece just to you – the same applies to Birmingham’s own Casey Bailey. He has such a careful and controlled delivery, and I truly admire that in performance work.

On the page, I still love poets who make me exhale heavily when I’ve read their work – Alex Reed, Kate Daniels, Nafeesa Hamid – but I also love poets who are playing around with form, structure and even their content, so writers like Andrew McMillan, who I’ve mentioned, and Jenna Clake.

9. Why do you write?

Because I need to. Even if I was doing any other job in the world – something that doesn’t encourage creativity, let’s say, which my current jobs do – then I truly believe that I would still need to write. I think people often say that they write because they have something to say, which I suppose is a fair and reasonable answer, and I in-part agree with it sometimes. But sometimes I write because I don’t have anything in the world to say at all, and writing helps me to work that out as well.

I suppose the short and jovial answer to that would have been: Because I can’t afford a therapist.

10. What would you say to someone who asked you “How do you become a writer?”

I have no idea! I’m three published books in and I’m still not brave enough to call myself a writer. But I suppose if one of my students were to sit me down and ask, I would tell them to write – all the time. I’ve previously told students to treat writing like a muscle, that you exercise and build on until eventually it can hold more weight – or rather, churn out a better first draft – than it did to begin with. Reading is also an important part of it. Sooner or later, as a budding writer, you stop reading books like you’re a reader and you start reading them like you’re a writer: I like this, or I wouldn’t have done that, and that really works! So I suppose my answer is write a lot and read a lot – read things you know you’re going to hate even, just so you know what you don’t want to be doing.

Oh, you also need two readers in your life: one who doesn’t read at all and one who reads compulsively, because both of these people will give you the best feedback you could ask for, especially in your early I’ve-got-a-brilliant-idea drafts.

11. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment.

Right now, I’m actually working on my second novel – that’s my main focus for the next month or so. I’m in the messy crossing things out stage but I’m making it a better book for it (I hope, at least). I’m also quietly planning a collaborative pamphlet with another poet friend too, so when the novel is out of the way I’ll be diving into that entirely. My brain is whirring away on ideas for another novel already but I have a one book at a time policy when it comes to writing, so I’m afraid that will have to wait a little while longer too – but it’s ready and waiting, so stay tuned.