Local government worker Maureen Eppen has written a children’s book and even Sarah Ferguson Duchess of York, is a fan

I first fell in love with reading ... when I was in kindergarten and I would try to read the books my sister brought home from school. My love of writing emerged not long afterwards, and I remember being praised for my stories even before I had learnt “running writing”.

I was always making up stories ... for my two daughters on the drive to and from school, and trying to end each trip on a cliffhanger. My picture book, Every Family is Different, was inspired by my mum, who raised my two sisters and me on her own. It evolved to include reflections on the many different types of families among my friends and extended family — including blended families, multi-generational families and families with same-sex parents.

A highlight of having my book published was ... seeing and hearing it read by Stephen Fry, on the new Storytime with Fergie and Friends YouTube channel created by Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York. I still can’t quite believe my publisher, Karen McDermott at Serenity Press, made it happen.

My favourite book as a child was ... Anne of Green Gables — a gift from my great-uncle John. Like so many girls, I saw myself in its talkative, imaginative and impulsive heroine. I shared the Anne books with my daughters when they were younger, and still read them from time to time.

What most people don’t know about my writing is ... that the fear of not living up to my ideals has been holding me back from completing my first novel. I started it several years ago and the early chapters fell so far short of what I imagined that I stopped writing it — until I recently felt compelled to try again. I’m starting to think that maybe I will finish it, after all.

An inspirational quote reminded me ... that not writing my novel was likely to be harder to bear than actually writing it. To quote from Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you”.

I’m inspired by ... my mum, who is the bravest, strongest, most generous and most loving person I know. Her natural inclination is to help others, and she always puts her family first — but her friends also mean a great deal to her, and they love her too. She is my hero.

If I could choose only one book to keep on my bedside table ... it would be that childhood copy of Anne of Green Gables that still means so much to me. If I could choose two or three others, I’d probably add Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Annie Proulx’s The Shipping News and Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove — each for their powerful, character-driven storytelling.

In the future I’d like to ... see Every Family is Different in Australian schools, where it could help children to understand that their family may not be the same as other people’s families, but that’s OK. I’d also like to overcome my fear of falling short of my dreams, and finish that novel.