My first big break came when I was five years old.

It's taken me more than seventy years to realise that. You see, at five I first learnt to read. It's that simple and it's that profound.

Who said that? Here's a clue. It wasn't me. (I'm not seventy five years old.)

I just had to show you this. It's my name on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Yes, really.

(With thanks to Mel Hermanny, my dear writing friend, who made a stellar day even more so by sending me the card above. Okay, so it's only a card but it COULD be real.)

Before I go any further - the person that talked about his first big break was...

Sean Connery

I'm taking his words seriously because it would be easy to be swept away by everything that was said to me yesterday about my work as a screenplay writer - importantly, by someone with an impressive track record in the business, who knows the business, who knows what is favoured, what will sell, is someone who will have his own reputation at stake by endorsing me.

I was surprised and delighted. Importantly, too, I didn't leave the London Film Academy bouncing off the rooftops and screeching along Fulham Broadway in a state of manic hysteria. I've done that before (in different places) when I've had some little glimmer of excitement about my work - and inevitably, it's all come to nothing.

Yesterday felt REAL. Practical. Considered. Full of promise, but without empty hype.

It WASN'T my first big break.

My first big break was to be the daughter of a talented writer who instilled in me his love for language and literature.

Thanks, Daddy.