New Year… New Book… Same Old Nose

Stuck On Me

I’m excited because my new book, Stuck on Me, comes out this month. I’ve just picked up the first, shiny copies from my publisher and I can’t stop sniffing them. I love the fresh, crisp smell of new books. Don’t you?

Stuck on Me is the second book in my Camden Town Tales Series, and tells the story of Sky, who becomes obsessed with the size of her nose and with her desire to track down her absent father, who disappeared when she was eight. Her best friends don’t understand why she hates her nose so much; they can’t see anything wrong with it. But Sky believes she’s deformed and she’ll try anything to get rid of it…

Pinnochio: In my book, Sky is brutally honest in case telling lies makes her nose grow

I had the same complex when I was a teenager. My nose grew disproportionately to the rest of my features and, after my dad once thoughtlessly said, ‘Hasn’t your nose grown bigger lately?’, I became fixated. I’d cup my hands around it whenever I talked to anyone – especially boys – and I made sure my hair hung down over it. And I would never, ever, ever allow anyone to take my photo in profile. I dreamed of being old enough for a nose job, and having the money to pay for one.

I once wrote an article about using software to show what I’d look like after plastic surgery. I think I look weird with my new nose, lips and eyebrows, don’t you?

By the time I was old enough (although I still didn’t have the money), I’d grown used to my hooter. I still don’t like it but, me and my nose, we’ve reached an understanding. We tolerate each other. Yes, my nose is big, but it fits my face (my other features finally caught up) and it’s kind of useful for breathing – and for smelling shiny new books. It gives my face character. And some people – especially boys – quite like it. I’m now glad I didn’t have parents rich or shallow enough to buy me a new nose for my sixteenth birthday, like a few girls I knew. But I still won’t let anybody take my photo in profile!

Yes, I’ve got a big hooter, but I’ve stuck with it!

I’m very aware that, nowadays, there is even more pressure on girls to look ‘perfect’. I can only imagine how incredibly hard it must be if you don’t have neat features, a slim figure or sleek, straight hair. (I had – and have – gappy teeth and frizzy hair to contend with, as well as the nose.) I hope that reading Stuck on Me will help a few girls to realise that they can still be attractive even if they don’t possess ‘conventional’ beauty.

Lady Gaga has a big nose… but it hasn’t held her back

Do you or did you ever have any complexes about the way you look? How did you get over them?