I've known that I wanted to be a writer since I finished reading my first book; 'The Magic Faraway Tree' by Enid Blyton. I think I was about eight, but I've never changed my mind in all the years since then.I got my first publishing contract when I was twenty-two, but had to wait until I was twenty-four to see that book published (it was The Swan Kingdom).I live in a little house in a town by the sea, with my two rescued cats, one called Hero after a Shakespearian character and one Echo after a nymph from a Greek myth. I also have a springer/cocker spaniel called Finbar (otherwise known as The Devil Hound).Five Interesting Facts: 1. I have nearly seventy notebooks hidden in my desk, waiting to be written in. I still can't stop buying new ones. 2. I can't ride a bike, and I never could. 3. I don't have a single filling in my teeth. 4. When I was little, I was convinced that wolves lived under my bed. 5. I hate bananas.