Name: Dot Meharry
Date of birth: 29 February, 1948
Place of birth: Taumarunui
Now living in: Thames
- What is your favourite food?
- Rice pudding! - only my mother can make it just right!
- Do you have a nickname and if so what is it?
- Dotty is the closest I ever got to a nickname. It’s more of an endearment.
- What was your most embarrassing moment?
- Tripping up as I climbed onto the underground train in London and sprawling across the floor with my legs poking out. The doors opened and shut - opened and shut. The contents of my bag were strewn everywhere and no one offered to help. It was awful.
- How do you relax?
- Walking at the beach at Pauanui with my husband Jack. Also love to be with my grandchildren - Mitchell, Emma and Jack.
- Who inspired you when you were little?
- Pippi Longstocking. I loved my weekly visits to the library.
- What were you like at school?
- I went to a small country school. It was great and I have wonderful memories. Then high school… I was the only girl from the small primary school going into the large high school. It was not easy - I enjoyed sports. Then was dreadfully homesick when I went away to training college. I enjoyed study but loved netball and athletics.
- What was your favourite/most hated subject at school?
- Physics - Yuk!
French - Yes - What was the book you most loved as a child?
- Pippi Longstocking, by Astrid Lindgren
- Which person from the past would you most like to meet?
- A teacher whose class I was in as a student teacher. I was very shy - she very demanding. She didn’t think I had chosen the right career!! I was terrified of her. I wouldn’t be now!! Even adults can be bullies.
- Who is your favourite author/children’s author?
- Joy Cowley. Her stories are inspirational.
- Why did you want to be a writer?
- I like putting down on paper the experiences of those in my life… funny stories, etc. Then I discovered I had a way with words and text for teaching reading.
- Do you have a special place where you write your books?
- My office. I can hear the birds and look out to the trees. It’s very peaceful.
- What’s the best thing and worst thing about being a writer?
- Best - a story being accepted.
Worst - rejections! 
If you weren’t a writer, what would you like to be?- An Olympic ice skater but I’m too old for that now so I'd be a harmonica player. I’m learning now. My husband Jack is very long-suffering.
- What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
- Never give up. If rejected, edit again and keep trying. Seek out good advice and read read read other authors' publications.
- Read some books written by Dot Meharry