Say Hello to Sian Turner, author of Wake Up Lionel! and Jessica's Smile

What was the inspiration for your book?

My story ideas usually happen when one random thought bumps into another.

‘Wake Up Lionel!’ was inspired by my son who is a serial sleepwalker, and thinking what might happen if he walked in his sleep on the family farm.

For ‘Jessica’s Smile’  I wanted to write a funny and joyful story around the phrase ‘always come dressed with a smile.’

 
When do you write?

I write most productively in the mornings when my children are at school and this coincides with an uninterrupted block of time away from my hospital administration work.

 

Do you have a favourite place to write?

I love writing up the stairs on a couch by a window which overlooks some majestic deciduous trees in my neighbour’s garden and captures glimpses of the ocean beyond.

 

What would be the title of your memoirs?

From the Seeds of Ideas, the Garden Grows.

 

Your greatest achievements so far … ?

Apart from my three gorgeous children, it would be my books, my PhD in Physiotherapy, being awarded the City of Perth Young Citizen of the Year award when I was younger, and the experience of being cast an extra in a movie.

 

What is next for you?

I’m hoping to expand my writing repertoire and become an author of junior fiction and middle grade stories.