Its not even that long a conversation.

Earl is incredibly good value for money.

Theres me in tatty, sick-covered pyjamas, Ive got no bra on!

she says laughing at the humiliation of having to meet the Dev Patel doctor in such disarray.

Story of my life!

Thanks toMy Mad Fat Diary, we know the story of Earls life.

I know I seem like a chronic oversharerand I am!

Earl laughs, but those two volumes dont tell the whole story.

I held back a lot in the diaries, she says.

It was a question of self-preservation.

Oh, there were some crackers!but I wasnt going to share them.

But inMadder Fatterthere was specific stuff about me and I thought do I want to put this out there?

Becoming a mother between the publication of the two volumes made the difference, she says.

Do I want to share that?

I thought, no.

The book started as a thought experiment, explains Earl.

Im a bit of a social media nut.

And I tried to imagine myself if I had been in this world at age thirteen.

That didnt involve as much of a mental leap for a forty-five year old as you might imagine.

My inner thirteen year old is alive and well!

Shes forever there in my head.

Earl created#Helps protagonist Millie as a reflection of the kind of young teenager she was.

The two also share another similarity: both suffer from anxiety.

I still find it upsetting now) are relayed inMy Mad Fat Diary.

As an adult reader, I tell her, readingMy Mad Fat Diaryis painfully frustrating.

Thats encapsulated that perfectly pinning your hopes on a thinner future, like that solves anything!

And actually down the line I do go ever so thin and it solvesnothing.

Yes, I can get into a pair of size ten hot pants at Topshop but it meant nothing.

It was a different time, she explains.

I dont think I necessarily would have got the right care.

Dont be frightened, theyve heard it all before and worse.

And they honestly will have done.

Yes, because its always about identification.

Who did Earl identify with growing up?

I was borderline obsessed with Ruby Wax.

It was people like Ruby Wax on television and French and Saunders.

And that kind of saved me, really, seeing that there were other ways to be.

Whats less helpful though, is the fallacy of this perfect adolescence.

That really needs to be shot out of the water because its nonsense.

Oh my God yes!

Because thats another key point.

On social media, you are seeing the highlights or the lowlights that have been picked for a reason.

Always ask yourself, why is somebody sharing this?

Theres always a reason.

Are mental health issues among young people are taken seriously enough today?

I think there are moves in the right direction.

I think the stigma is being reduced a bit, but I want to see action, not words.

And you know what?

Is Earl relieved not to have grown up with the likes of YouTube and Instagram?

One of the latter is the potential for instant notoriety.

it’s possible for you to have a transgression now that can go global in five minutes… Or Id be known as that girl who did that.

Duly, todays young people have it tougher than she ever did, says Earl.

I think its harder to be thirteen now than when I was thirteen, I truly do.

They grow up in a much harder world than we ever did.

All this talk of wet millennials and that nonsense isreallyfrustrating to me.

No generation has the monopoly on wisdom.

My heads like a mad omelette!

I can still hear her laughing when we hang up the call.

Order#Help: My Cats a Vlogging Superstar!from Amazon now, published by Walker Books.