The bits about me that I want you to know

I love a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. I love committing to a series just as much as I love a stand-alone adventure. I love a cliffhanger, and the itch in the back of my brain until I get to the first page of the next book. I love the emotional hangover when I get to the end of the book and I am so moved by my character's victory. I won't read a book that doesn't hook me in the first 60 pages, and I won't root for a character that I don't believe in.

I love writing stories. Before I get the words out, I love sitting with my characters and feeling what they feel. I love that feeling when an idea pops into my head and I can write and re-write it until the next idea pops in. I love thinking about how I would react in my character's situation, then writing the complete opposite.

I wouldn't say I'm a person who has hobbies. But I have some creative exploits that I enjoy regardless of my skill level. I'm not exceptionally good at anything, but I'm pretty good at some things and kind of ok at others. If I'm intrigued I'll try a new thing, and I'll give it a good go, but I also know when to stop.

When I need to de-stress I quite enjoy cross-stitching. Usually gifts for my loved ones, and I'm not shy to include a couple of creatively placed swear words. I find it quite relaxing to spend a day giving myself a manicure and experimenting with different colours and styles. Friends have suggested I pursue these hobbies as jobs, but then they would become the thing I'd need to de-stress from, and that would be sad. 

I'm a proud fur-mum of one. My cat is old and a little bit sick, and we've been through a lot together. She's given me the best snuggles through all sorts of highs and lows. She holds the most fascinating conversations (I think), and although she doesn't talk about her past, I know she's happy to have found her fur-ever home with me. The only thing she's not allowed to do is scratch my couch, and she respects that.

My plants are also my babies, and I'm sad if one dies, but I love that I learned something in the process of trying to keep it alive. Whenever I adopt a new member into my plant family, it'll be the one that has fun leaf shapes, colours and variegations. It amuses me when people ask me for plant advice, because honestly anything I know I just googled or discovered accidentally.

I'm sometimes loud, and sometimes I can't find the words. I've tried living within boundaries defined by people, known and unknown to me, people who believed they knew best and I believed them. But now I live by my own rules. Some people don't like it, other people encourage it.

I've lived a life that is my life. I regret nothing, though I acknowledge that if sometimes I'd have been braver I'd still have been happy with the outcome.