Jeff Kinneyauthor of Diary of a Wimpy Kid

What books are on your bedside table? None I think. No wait, Game of Thronesby George RR Martin. I've been watching the TV series and really liking it so I got the book – and it's turned out to be way better and more involved than the TV version. But actually I don't read books.

Back up there – your own books, the 'Wimpy Kid' series, have sold more than 58 million copies all over the world, and you don't read books?No. I'm a big fan of audio books. I can listen to a book while I draw or when I'm in work. I don't really have time to sit down and read a book.

In work? Surely you've given up the day job? No, I was working for Pearson publishing when I came up with the first Diary of a Wimpy Kidand I still work there. The website I work on is poptropica.com. It's fun and it's about creating great stories for kids and 10 million kids log on every month. That size of an audience is addictive.

So what's your average working day then?I've three jobs. Poptropica is the day job, then I come for dinner and I help the kids with their homework and then it's into my study until 1am to work on the Wimpy Kid book. I'm also executive producer on the movies and that takes a lot of time and travel.

What every creative person wants . . .is an audience

Your 'Wimpy Kid' series is one of the shining examples of that elusive thing, a successful blog-to-book.Yes, it started out as a blog for one of Pearson's websites, I was looking for content for the site, my bosses saw the potential and it went from there.

Your other career would be?I tried for three years to be a newspaper cartoonist and I failed – I'm a failed cartoonist.

Yet you draw the Wimpy Kid for the books?Yep. Seeing the movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid take that stick drawing from two dimensional into a real life figure with emotions was fantastic.

What about reader feedback?The biggest response I get is from adults from all over the world. It doesn't surprise me in a way because I originally didn't see it as a product for kids. It was about getting adults to remember what is was like to be a kid.

Your first book was published in 2007 – success has come quickly.It has felt like a never-ending ride up and one day I guess I'll reach the top and then start the slide down.

The best thing about being a writer?The satisfied feeling that I've achieved my purpose.

And the worst thing?Missing a lot of my children's early years. They are now six and nine so the books took off when they were babies. It's meant a lot of travel.

So were you a wimpy kid?I had my moments. At swim practice in school I'd get out of it by going to the bathroom and hiding in a stall. And of course I'd get cold so I'd wrap myself up in toilet paper. That's typical wimpy kid stuff.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever,by Jeff Kinney, is published by Puffin, €15.99