My writing life begins early in the morning with coffee and… more coffee. After some distraction, I settle to what I grandiosely call my ‘work-in-progress’. It’s always hard to tell if your enthusiasm for a particular theme will sustain itself over a year. But I show up every day and let the characters speak. There is no easy way. I’ve shelves of books on the subject, as well as links to websites offering a magic formula. The only thing that works is getting it down. From one day to the next, the power of resistance is greater or lesser. Being published is an altogether different business, as my novel Writers Revenge suggests.

I studied in Dublin, Ireland, where I received an MA in English from Trinity College. A recent re-visit brought back many memories – the wonderful library and the amazing buildings. I particularly like the Museum Building with its look of a Venetian palazzo.

The cobblestones lend character but I soon learnt never to walk in high heels on them! During Fresher’s Week, I managed to slip and ended up being bandaged by several doctors in St Vincent’s. They wouldn’t be as enthusiastic today –  my once shapely legs now looking a little shall-we-say, sturdier.

While my love for Dublin will never fade, I enjoy a more rural lifestyle these days. When I’m not writing, I grow vegetables and flowers. The former I eat and the latter I use in flower arrangements – see my prize-winning arrangement of a Summer Meadow.