When Dad asked me to edit his novel, I wanted to say no – but ran directly towards the lion’s den

‘My dad was asking me to teach him something new, and I realised he wasn’t perfect at everything first go; he was perfect at persevering.’ Photograph: Lesia Larionova/Alamy

My dad and I believe in many of the same things: cheesecake; the Geelong football club; my mum. And that we should immediately be experts at anything. First try. No practice. No revision.

He taught me this in kindergarten. Every day he pushed me to be brilliant. We played spelling games in the car and did maths workbooks for fun. Before I started school I had “published” a library of my own books, complete with copyright information. I had become – and I’m assuming this is true of most Guardian writers – a precocious kid who irritated everyone around her by being boisterously, aggressively right about everything all of the time. Just like my dad. (Obviously I’ve grown a lot since then.)