I have read profiles that are so witty and clever and really make me want to know that person. But I think that is beyond my capabilities so I will just go with the basic facts!

I am English and married to a Jordanian man. We don't have children which is the great sadness of my life, but I am a teacher, so that helps me deal with those frustrated maternal instincts. I live in the Middle East at the moment and have lived in about 9 or 10 countries, starting with Kenya when I was 2.

What do I like doing? Reading, first and foremost. Reading is like breathing for me. If I don't do it every day I feel a little lost. The internet has given me so much more material to look at. That is why I spend far too much time looking at fanfiction. I go through phases and at the moment I am reading 'Downton Abbey' and 'Castle' fiction. I love, love, love 'Castle' and that is all I am really watching on tv at the moment as I am bored by most other things that I used to like.

I tend to get a little obsessive about things. 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' is, without doubt, my favourite tv programme EVER. I cannot tell you how much I adore Spike - really, it is ridiculous how much I invest in him. My favourite fictional men are Mr Rochester (always at the top of the list, ever since I was about 13. Mr Rochester started my love for tall, dark, and rather grumpy men and that is whom I married! Not sure how Spike fits into that, as physically he is not my type, but Spike is all about breaking the rules), Mr Darcy (yes, what a cliché, but how could I not love him?), Spike, of course, Captain Vimes from the Discworld books, Benton Fraser from 'Due South', Richard Castle, and, of course, my long-term love, Doctor Who, especially Four and Ten (oh, Ten, you nearly unseated Spike in my affections). I could say Doug Ross from ER but that would really only be about lust, so I won't include that.

I love fantasy and science-fiction, in books and on the screen, and classic literature like Trollope, the Brontës (though Emily not so much!), Jane Austen, etc. My favourite modern writer is AS Byatt, especially 'Possession'. There are lots of other authors I like, too numerous to mention. I love classic children's books, like 'Anne of Green Gables' and the 'Chronicles of Narnia'.

What else do I like?: poetry, cats, elephants, chocolate, blues music, Aretha Franklin and Elvis, Edinburgh (well, Scotland in general), Barcelona, classic Minis and great orators. Martin Luther King is my number one hero, which is a little strange for a middle-class white girl from the South East of England, as I really have not had to suffer much oppression or racism in my life. However, I am all about the words, and he was a gift sent from God when he spoke. Plus his philosophy of tolerance and kindness to others is the only hope for humanity. I like to paint and embroider. I love to make cakes. I adore Van Gogh and the Pre-Raphaelites. My favourite form of entertainment is live theatre. Especially if it is Shakespeare. My students laugh at how over-enthusiastic I get teaching him. Greatest happiness for me this year? Scoring a ticket to see David Tennant (Tenth Doctor Who, if you don't know) and Catherine Tate (Donna) perform in 'Much Ado About Nothing' on stage in London.. It was so good that I might have been persuaded to commit a crime if the payoff had been another ticket!

(I think I sound pretentious, and I am really not. See, I said writing these profiles was tricky!)

I hate: RACISM, RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE, smoking, people who do not wash their hands when they go to the toilet (I have had fights in supermarket bathrooms when people do that), poor punctuation, especially the misuse of the apostrophe, about which I get ridiculously irate, and bad manners.

I have always lived in my imagination and that is why I like writing. I decided that I needed to face my fears and start publishing my stories. I am trying not to take the lack of response to my stories personally, but, as I am someone who likes to do things properly or not at all, I am not sure if I am going to write much more fanfic. I need to know how to improve so that people enjoy my stories more, but no one wants to review them! My friends are very positive about my writing, but they are too nice to tell me where I am going wrong! Maybe the people on this site are the same! I have had a couple of articles printed in newspapers, but non-fiction seems so much easier!

By the way, if you want to find some real writers, check out the fantastic Lirazel, MommaKristine, chezchuckles and Sandiane Carter on this site. They write truly wonderful stories.