My final guest is the lovely Paula Harrison, am ex-primary school teacher who was discovered in the Nosy crow slushpile. Paula wrote the Rescue Princesses series - about a gang of girls who rescue animals using cunning, bravery, and ninja moves - which has been successful in the US, UK and Australia and is now being translated into Italian and Hebrew.

Paula's MG Red Moon Rising will be published by Nosy Crow in April 2015. Laney discovers a secret community of faeries living in her village and finds out that she's one of them. A blood-red moon signals the start of her problems. In the sequel, Dark Wood Shining, the enmity between the different tribes deteriorates into war.

1. Uh oh, it’s the zombie apocalypse. Which author (living or dead) do you want riding shotgun?

Definitely Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein, of course). She understood the dark side of human nature and if we ended up hiding out somewhere, I'd love to ask her about life with her poet husband and about Byron and other writers she knew. I kinda wish she'd written more novels so perhaps I could take some pens and paper into the hideout for her.

2. Look, I got a time machine on eBay! Where do you want to go? (Said time machine may possibly malfunction and leave you there. Possibly. It was *very* cheap.)

Forward! I want to know what's next. (I always squeeze my presents before Christmas so I know what I'm getting.)

3. What’s your favourite thing about writing for kids?

Nothing is too crazy. Nothing is too unusual. You can let loose your ideas.

4. A witch has cast a spell on you (sorry about that) and you’ve woken up as a character in a children’s book – what’s your special talent or power?

I'm made of instantly re-growing gingerbread so that I can eat bits of myself if I get hungry.

5. What’s the scariest or strangest thing you’ve ever done?

Ooh, hard! If I'm really honest, giving birth the first time was pretty scary. Strange? Well I once sang 'Skip to my loo' to avoid being attacked by a crocodile. Does that count?

6. What’s something you wish you’d known about writing when you started out? What’s something you wish you’d known about publishing?

I wish I'd known that the people you meet along the way will be one of the best things about writing - odd for such a solitary profession but we really do need each other.

7.  What would your daemon be?

A duck. Sometimes I fly and sometimes I paddle, and I can be a bit quackers.

8. My books don’t have dragons, but they do have... people who can shoot lightning out of their fingers. Also (being more serious now) they explore how identity evolves and how people are tribal.

That is definitely one of my favourite strangest things ever! *makes note to sing to crocodiles* Find out more about Paula and her books on her website and on Twitter. 

This week's guest is the alligator-wrestling (really - see below!) Marion Jensen. By day he's a mild-mannered instructional designer. By night, he puts on a cape and writes superhero books. Books that will make you laugh, cry (but only because you're laughing so hard), and then laugh some more. 

His debut, Almost Super, came out in January, 2014 with HarperCollins. Perfect for fans of Pixar's The Incredibles, Almost Super is a fresh, funny middle-grade adventure about two brothers in a family of superheroes who must find a way to be heroic despite receiving powers that are total duds.

1) Uh oh, it’s the zombie apocalypse. Which author (living or dead) do you want riding shotgun?

My first thought is to have a tough author by me to help fight off the zombies. Somebody like Ernest Hemingway who was as good at fisticuffs as any writer I know. The problem with this strategy is that everybody knows whoever is riding shotgun is a secondary character. That means at some point, they're going to be bitten, which means now I've got a zombie Earnest Hemingway to deal with. Yeah. I don't like that idea either. So instead, I'm going with James Joyce. I think I could outrun a zombie James Joyce.

2) Look, I got a time machine on eBay! Where do you want to go? (Said time machine may possibly malfunction and leave you there. Possibly. It was *very* cheap.)

That's easy. I'd go back to last Thursday when I TOTALLY fell for a RickRoll. Stupid Rickroll.

3) What’s your favourite thing about writing for kids?

I love writing for kids who check under their beds for monsters... just in case. Kids who, when they get stung by a bee, wait to see if they develop superpowers. Kids that age still live in what I call the age of wonder, and they have a great imagination and a wonderful outlook on life.

4) A witch has cast a spell on you (sorry about that) and you’ve woken up as a character in a children’s book – what’s your special talent or power?

I'm going to pick a character out of my upcoming book, Searching for Super. Merry Johnson is a superhero. She has the ability to grow a mustache on her left kneecap. Because I mean... come on. That's just awesome.

5) What’s the scariest or strangest thing you’ve ever done?

I once wrestled an alligator. No joke. An honest, live alligator in Florida. Just don't ask how big it was. Okay. It was about ten inches. But still... I won.

6) What’s something you wish you’d known about writing when you started out?

I wish I'd known that writing isn't something you can either do or not do. It's just like everything else. If you practice, you're going to get better. The more you practice, the better you will become. It's like running. You don't wake up one morning and run fifty miles. But if you practice, you can totally run that far. 

7) What would your daemon be?

I don't know for sure what my daemon would be, but if there is fairness and beauty in the world, it would have the ability to dispense Pez. A Pez-dispensing daemon. 

8) My books don’t have dragons, but they do have...  belly buttons, Russian belchers, and a military-grade glove compartment.

A Pez-dispensing daemon may be my favourite idea yet :D Find out more about Marion and his books on his website and Goodreads page, and chat with him on Twitter.

This week my guest is secret burglar (see below!) Melanie Conklin. Melanie is a writer, reader, and all-around lover of words and those who create them. Her debut novel for middle-grade readers, Counting Thyme, will be published by Putnam & Sons in 2016. She lives in South Orange, New Jersey with her husband and two small maniacs.

1) Uh oh, it’s the zombie apocalypse. Which author (living or dead) do you want riding shotgun?

Without a doubt, Roald Dahl. I imagine that he would fill my last living moments with pure gems of imagination! Plus, that magnificent brain of his might even spit out a few life-saving ideas, as well. And when we finally came to our witty end, at least we'd make the most morbidly entertaining meal for the zombies.

2) Look, I got a time machine on eBay! Where do you want to go? (Said time machine may possibly malfunction and leave you there. Possibly. It was *very* cheap.)

Wow! I've heard of awesome stuff for sale on eBay, but this sounds like the steal of the century. I'd love to hitch a ride to the Victorian era. With my luck, I'd probably end up slaving away as a laundry maid, but I can't resist the lure of the dresses and the parties and the fancy-pants meals I've read about in so many historical novels.

3) What’s your favourite thing about writing for kids?

I love writing middle-grade stories because kids are the bravest readers. They're willing to follow characters through anything, and to give every circumstance a fair shot, even when things get rough. Kids are quick to empathize and slow to judge. They see the magic in everyday life and are never short of hope. It's this combination of honesty and wonder that draws me to middle grade, both as a reader and a writer.

4) A witch has cast a spell on you (sorry about that) and you’ve woken up as a character in a children’s book – what’s your special talent or power?

Since I was a child, I've dreamt of being able to fly. In those dreams, I inexplicably rise from the ground and soar higher and higher, despite my real-life fear of heights. I'm fueled by nothing more than my utter faith that I CAN FLY. And that is an awesome feeling - gut-wrenching and terrifying, but so liberating that I'm pretty disappointed when I wake up and find that I'm still bound by the laws of gravity.

5) What’s the scariest or strangest thing you’ve ever done?

I studied Design in college, which involved staying up all night and working in cramped studio spaces, so I've done my fair share of weird things, most involving adhesive spray and polyurethane foam. However, one of the strangest (and scariest) moments in my life came much earlier, in high school. My best friend and I came up with the brilliant idea to break into our mutual friend's house, just to scare her. Her parents were out of town for the night, and she was home alone. We painted our faces black, parked by the side of the road, and crept in on foot until we reached her car. The door was unlocked, and the garage door opener was inside. We opened the garage door. We ran inside. And wouldn't you know it, her house door was UNLOCKED. We turned the knob and started to tiptoe down her hall, although she surely must have heard us by then. Two seconds later, her house alarm blasted to life, blaring warnings and flashing lights. We ran. Out through the garage, back to our car, then realized the police would come, and returned to the house to reveal ourselves so our friend wouldn't be scarred for life. That's when we heard the word FREEZE! A man was standing on the porch with a shotgun leveled at us. We put our hands up, and luckily, that's when our friend emerged from the house. The man with the gun was her neighbor, and thankfully, he wasn't mad enough to shoot! We ended up staying overnight with our friend, barricaded together in her room, because we were all too scared to sleep.

6) What’s something you wish you’d known about writing when you started out? What’s something you wish you’d known about publishing?

The one thing I wish I'd known about writing is that no time is wasted time. The times when I'm cooking for my family and picking up my kids from school are just as important for my process as the word count I achieve on any given day. It's very easy to get seduced by the idea of writing books, and to crave completing a draft so hard that you want to neglect the rest of your life. What I've discovered over time is that NO TIME IS WASTED. That hour you spend watching The Vampire Diaries is totally worth it. As is giving yourself the time to take a nice, long shower (not one of those five minute slap dash affairs), or giving yourself the evening off (as in, completely off, with no thinking about plots and characters). The down time is important. It gives your subconscious time to process, so that you can surprise yourself in your next writing session. This is a big lesson, and one I'm still working to embrace.

When I first started writing, I knew very little about publishing. I spent at least a year learning everything I could on the industry, from reading blog posts and books on writing to attending conferences... and in each of these venues, I found there was a tremendous focus on querying and securing an agent. While securing an agent is a critical step on the writing journey, it's important to know that publishing is a much longer game than that. It's far better to give yourself a year to study writing craft, with ZERO intention of querying, than to rush into the hunt for an agent. Publishing is a big industry, with lots of barriers to entry, but publishing also depends on WRITERS. Agents and editors alike are eager to find great new writers They are not looking for reasons to say no; they are hoping for a reason to say yes! So put your writing first, as much as possible. Discover who you are, what you have to say, and what you want to write. The big secret to getting into the publishing world is writing great books.

7)  What would your daemon be?

Truth: I had to google that. Did you know that a daemon is a background process that handles requests for services such as print spooling and file transfers, and is dormant when not required? Neither did I! Oh, but it's also a companion animal that is a physical manifestation of your soul, according to Tatum... a little like a patronus in Harry Potter. In that case, my personal daemon would definitely be a badger, because I'm fiercely loyal to my friends and family, and fairly good at digging holes.

8) My books don’t have dragons, but they do have... 

Do you remember those special objects from your childhood, the ones you found tucked away in your bedside table when you cleaned out your room after college? The stack of Garbage Pail Kids cards. The pouch of tiny fruit-shaped erasers that used to smell like fruit, but end up reeking like old tires. The paper notes, folded and colored and tucked into fascinating shapes by your friends. These objects from our childhood are our personal talismans, temporary vessels for all of our hopes and fears in those formative years. I try to unearth these special objects in my character's lives and share them with the reader, because nothing makes me love a character more than knowing their secrets.

Sign me up for being able to fly too please! Find out more about Melanie and her books on her website and Goodreads page, and chat with her on Twitter.