Watching Dr Who on Saturday with the family, I am suddenly bouncing up and down on the sofa in excitement. The Doctor has just torn the last page out of the novel he is reading, claiming that he does not like knowing how a story will end. This is just like my Freya who tears out the final page of books to collect happy endings. Freya, daughter of Joanna, who tears page 51 out of every book for entirely different reasons.

‘They stole my idea! How did they do that?……No, wait….everyone will think I stole their idea…that’s so not fair!’

Discussing this further with my writer friend Simon Morden (a sci fi writer who had obviously seen the episode of Dr Who) the next morning, he helpfully describes this weird coincidence as an idea that has currency at a certain time (kind of floating around in the collective imagination if you will). We all think we are the first. We all think our idea is original. And in this case, who cares? I am on the same page as the writers of Dr Who – how cool is that!

And then there was Sunday night – another precious moment. Ten of us sat round a table enjoying cheese and wine. And discussing my book. Answering questions about my novel. Unpicking the issues. Bringing individual interpretations to the storyline. Empathising with the characters. Life does not get any better than that, surely.

And so to share the experience with all of you, we will post one question every couple of days on Facebook. Starting from tomorrow. Do feel free to join in. The more the merrier, as they say.