Blog tour: Dads, Geeks and Blue Haired Freaks - Ellie Phillips

Today I'm taking part in the blog tour for Ellie Phillips new book 'Dads, Geeks and Blue Haired Freaks'.  This is a sweet and funny read about a girl searching for her biological Dad which I would highly recommend.   

I'd like to welcome Ellie herself to the blog who has written a fantastic post on the subject of identity.

Hairstyle of the Day:

OK I think this one has to be Siouxsie Sioux for anyone who doesn't remember: a crimped and crazy Cleopatra look - like she got struck by lightning!

Identity is a huge issue - for everyone. I mean we spend a lot of our lives trying to work out who we are and exactly where we fit in and of course this changes over time. I mean I was pretty sure I was Anna Pavlova when I was a child and then I wanted to be someone out of The Human League as a teenager. I was furious with my parents one minute and then giggling completely hysterically with my friends the next. My moods altered radically and I changed the way I felt about things continuously. Even as I got dressed in the morning I was asking 'OK - who shall I be today? Am I Tess of the D’Urbervilles or am I Siouxsie Sioux?' I wish I'd been a great hairdresser like Sadie is in Dads Geeks - then I could have really tried out different looks, because you've got to try things out and try things on. The teenage years are a really interesting, fluid time; you make new friends, you form all these new, deep bonds with people and they change you too.

In Dads Geeks Sadie feels like she doesn't fit in because she doesn't know who her 'dad' is. She feels as if she's different - an outsider looking in on all these 'normal' kids who have 'normal' parents. The truth is that most teenagers feel like this a lot of the time. And a lot of adults feel like this too. There are so many ways of being an outsider depending on how you're defining yourself. You can be a different religion/sexuality/ethnicity/personality/body-type to everyone else - think about the ways that you fit in and that you don't fit in with everyone.

In the book Sadie has lost her anchor (her ex-best friend Shonna) and at home her family drives her up the pole. Her fantasy about her 'Dad' is that he'll provide this great alternative. He won't be all loud and embarrassing like her Mum and her Aunt Lilah. He'll be 'unknown and different' and she'll relate to him much better than she does to her existing family.

The truth - of course - turns out to be more complex.