Okay - I am 50, married to a great bloke for 23 years and have an 17 year old daughter who is a wonderful angel (well, when she's not being a bit of a demon! Though apparently her room is a mess because she defies any thief to find her 'good stuff' amidst the mess, as well as the fact they'll probably fall and kill themselves on some of the debris and she'll have a damn good place to hide the body...many bodies in fact).

I used to have a small zoo - 2 dogs, 1 cat, 2 Guinea Pigs, and approximately two hundred fish (in a large pond) - all rescued as my daughter wanted to be a vet. Sufficed to say that only extends to rescuing them, the looking after then fell to me. I often thought of opening to the public and charging entrance! However, that was some years ago and now a lot of the fish and the guinea pigs have gone to the great pond and park in the sky - along with the cat. Though the fish and piggers deaths were NOT because of the cat in case anyone was worried.

We now have two dogs, that's it. My daughter still wants to work with animals, but we realised that university to study to be a vet was out of the question as we're not one of the 1% of the super rich. So she's decided to become an animal behaviourist and a do a lot of night studying and working in the field to learn - cheaper and no life long debt to worry about.

My favourite animals are wolves; they are the most maligned animal around I think. They have a reputation they do not deserve, and a family ethic that we could learn a lot from. Aside from them I also have a soft spot for meerkats; I know, not the first sort of animal that springs to mind; but if you're a fan of 'Meerkat Manor' as me and my daughter are, you'll know what interesting, funny little creatures they are.

I love 'King Arthur' (particularly the movie) - favourite knights are Tristan, Dagonet and Lancelot (in that order), (new) 'Dr. Who', 'Phantom of the Opera', all the old classics (' Far from the Madding Crowd', 'Return of the Native', 'Wuthering Heights', etc) and many new writers like Christine Feehan and Nalini Singh. One of my favourite authors is Catherine Cookson. I LOVE to read and will devour a book in hours...

I love all things Gothic, and thank God my daughter is the same; pretty much - she now likes bue a lot more than me; my favourite colour is black. I adore football (soccer to anyone from the US) though I don't support any particular team these days; baseball (New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox) and American football (Dallas Cowboys).

Favourite bands are Saybia, Rasmus and Evanescence; with favourite songs being 'The Second You Sleep', 'Keep Your Heart Broken' and 'My Immortal' respectively. I also adore John Newman; his songs and his voice are just beyond brilliant - my favourites of his songs are 'Losing Sleep' and 'Come and Get It'. I am also a huge fan of Enya, my favourites of hers are 'If I Could Be Where You Are' from her recent Amaratine album and 'Once You Had Gold' from her 1995 album A Memory of Trees. I also like other music though - everything from Glen Miller to The Clash.

I can sing in the shower, it's the only place where I do not make people's eardrums bleed; and I am not adverse to dancing round my kitchen to a particularly favourite song - much to my daughter's embarrassment and only as far as my arthritis allows me! Though she really used to get upset when I was able to do it at the supermarket!

I love black, purple, dark blue, dark red and chocolate brown; anything dark basically. I HATE pink and fluffy. I would rather work on a car than bake, and used to be able to do both until my arthritis got too bad for me to be climbing around a car. I am nothing if not unpredictable and I love that fact - no one knows what to make of me, not even my own family, and I enjoy the fact that I can't be pidgeon-holed. My father and cousin are also currently trying to teach me Gaelic (I'm half Irish), but it is immensely difficult! I also know a smattering of Italian and French and want to learn Japanese next just so I can watch the anime that my daughter got me into without the subtitles (I'm an OTAKU and PROUD!)

I suffer from ill health and cannot work - but that's okay as I write instead; and it keeps my mind off my ailments and helps me with the depression I've long since learnt to keep at bay. I hope you like my stories; but if not, I'm sorry but I won't be changing them...they're my plot bunny babies. ;)