Like Deborah, my life was not a cute teen novel either. No secret message arrived to tell me I had been given a scholarship to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry or had suddenly inherited the crown of a small European country. I was stuck at home with kind, well-meaning parents, an annoying little brother (actually he was sweet, but I didn’t always appreciate him) and a bunch of friends who just didn’t understand me.

Nobody understood me. I didn’t even understand myself!

I escaped into books and the pages of my favourite teen mag, where life always seemed glam, cool and exciting, and sensitive, drop-dead gorgeous boys were never in short supply. I dreamt a lot.

I guess that being a moody, misunderstood and dreamy teenager may have been great practice for becoming an author, but it didn’t make for a whole lot of fun at the time. Maybe I just worried too much. Feeling like an alien/outsider/weirdo is normal when you’re growing up… sometimes, anyhow!

In the end, I realized I probably hadn’t been abandoned on my parents’ doorstep as a child. I was a mixture of my shy, kind, anxious mum and dreamy, eccentric, hard-working dad, with shades of my fun-loving little brother stirred in for variety, and a whole raft of extra ingredients that were all down to ME.

If you don’t quite see how you fit into your family yet, hang on… the chances are you will!

Dear Cathy

Were you ever a tomboy? I am. I just want to be me, but some of the girls think I’m weird. I don’t understand why style has to be such a big issue!

Jayne, age 12

Hey Cathy

I hope it’s OK for me to write to you, being a boy and everything. I do love your books! People label me as a geek and that really annoys me. I enjoy school, and I have big ambitions, but I have feelings too! I hate being made to feel like an oddball just because I happen to work hard.

Martin, age 11

Some of us make a choice to be ourselves, no matter what… and some of us just can’t help it. We stand out from the crowd because we do things our way – we’re different. Other people may not always know what to make of individuals like Jayne and Martin, but so what? They are true to themselves and happy in their own skin, and that’s what counts.

It’s not fair that anyone gets labelled with tags they’d rather not have, but if this has happened to you, remember that people aren’t necessarily trying to hurt you, just work you out. You can always relabel yourself as something you DO like the sound of ! It takes all sorts to make a world, and if Jayne and Martin get to know some of the kids who don’t know what to make of them right now, there might be surprises on both sides…