That’s the advice I would give my teenage self.

I wasted a lot of time doing just what I wanted to do rather than knuckling down to learn, and therefore I ended up leaving my comprehensive school with a few mediocre CSEs (as they were known in those days).

I was a late developer. I was still playing with dolls at the age of fourteen, although their role was in the fiction I created. I was a compulsive writer which meant that, if I had a story in my head, I would spend lessons, when I should be listening to the teacher, writing a story. That might have been ok if it had been productive, but most of it wasn’t – it was just drivel.

I ended up catching up with qualifications in and around working full time as an adult when I was moderately more mature.

Despite those past experiences giving me experience I might not have had otherwise, which I have used in my fiction, I also missed out on good career opportunities because of my laziness at school.

So, my advice to my teenage self would be “Buck your ideas up.”