I’m very happy to have Geraldine Paine on here as part of my Kent Writer series today.

Geraldine Paine lives in east Kent. She’s been a professional actress, a specialist writer, teacher, lecturer and a magistrate. In 2000, she gained an M.Phil in Writing at the University of Glamorgan and since then her poems have been published widely including in The Interpreter’s House, Seam, The Rialto, Smiths Knoll, The French Literary Review, Magma, Envoi, Soundings, Equinox, The Frogmore Papers and londongrip.co.uk.

She has also been commended or shortlisted in several poetry competitions, and appeared in the anthologies; Shape Sifting, published by Cinnamon Press 2007, Hand Luggage Only, published by Open Poetry 2008, Buzz, published by Templar Poetry 2008, Sixty Poems for Haiti, published by Cane Arrow Press 2010 and Did I tell You? 131 Poems for Children in Need, and Not only the Dark, both published for WordAid.org.uk by Categorical Books 2010 and 2011. Geraldine is a founder member of Scatterlings, the Poetry Group, and I can personally vouch for the power of her readings.

Her first collection, The Go-Away-Bird, is published by Lapwing Publications 2008.

Lovely! So finish my sentences, Geraldine…

When you were small, you wanted … the older blond boy who lived in our flats to love me the best.

(Geraldine found this photograph of the ‘blond boy’ and generously shared it, so I couldn’t resist putting it in. How sweet is she? And him!)

You may not say it out loud but .. I like to play Little Richard at full blast when no-one’s around.

The one thing you can never resist is … a chilled glass of dry white, Sancerre or Pouilly-fumé maybe. A fresh Danish Pastry is pretty high on my list of irresistables too.

The last time you went ‘WOOP’ with excitement was… I tend to whoop when the perfect word comes to me. And when the England Rugby team wins.

Something that never fails to give you inspiration is … a blackbird singing, often after rain. Plenty of chances then.

Your five favourite words are, for the moment at least… Blubber, fiddlesticks, mantequilla (butter in Spanish), soliloquy, miscreant.

And I also asked Geraldine where she liked to write…

My favourite writing place is my study, looking across to the huge trees in the park opposite (but not too often).

Thanks Geraldine! And here are two thank you gifts – turn up the volume and sip the glass I’ve just poured…