I certainly do. I was ten and it was called 'My Pony'. The local paper published it and paid me with a postal order for about a dollar. I was obviously already showing signs of a fervent imagination. I never had a pony.

I leave cover designs to the professionals. I'm lucky enough to have award winning illustrator Dave Carson as a colleague. When he's not busy with other projects he does my covers for me.

Anything and everything. I'm a very eclectic reader. I usually have a selection of books on my bedside table. I can't sleep without reading something first. At the moment I'm reading 'Red Dragon' by Thomas Harris, 'La piel del Tambor' (in the original Spanish), by Arturo Perez Reverte and a self improvement book called 'You can't afford the luxury of a negative thought' by John-Roger and Peter McWilliams. I'm a big fan of Clive Barker and Neil Gaiman. Neil in particular has an incredibly inventive imagination. But I'm just as likely to read Shakespeare or Oscar Wilde or Noel Coward. I have splurge where I only read detective novels. I love trying to work out whodunnit before the big reveal. My house is full of books. I don't have a television.

I grew up in the wilds of Ireland. It influenced my writing only insomuch as that I was a solitary child, ill when I was young and, like Robert Louis Stevenson, confined to bed for six months. This gave me time to read anything and everything in the house (no TV in them days) and, since my father was not only a Headmaster but also an aficionado of 'Weird Tales', it imbued me with a lifelong love of the mysterious. Stood to reason then that when I DID start to write it was in the Sci Fi/Dark Fantasy genres. I've since broadened my horizons but alternative realities remain my first love.

My latest book is an anthology of my short stories. It's mostly dark fantasy. The majority of the stories have been published before in anthologies and magazines and a couple have been broadcast as well. There is one completely new story called 'Cat's Cradle' which has a timeslip theme. The book, and the name of the lead story is 'Worse things than spiders'.

8.00am to 1.00pm every day, come rain or come shine when I'm on a project. As my first late agent said, 'writing is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration'. If you haven't got the discipline to stick at it, nothing will ever get done. Some days it's liked greased lightning. Some days it's like walking through glue. You take the rough with the smooth. And the buck stops with you. There's nobody else to blame. In between projects I'm always on the alert for ideas and listening to other people's conversations. Writer's are working even when they look like they're just hanging out.

1. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin. One of the cleverest, most imaginative and moving books ever written.
2. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. Well researched, great characters. VERY SCARY.
3. The House of Dr Dee by Peter Ackroyd. Ackroyd is the master of believable time-slip fiction.
4. Any of the Inspector Morse books by Colin Dexter. Convoluted, clever, brilliantly executed. The very best kind of detective fiction.
5. The Quiet American by Graham Greene. An eye opener about the beginning of the Vietnam conflict and America's part in the destabilization of an age-old, sophisticated culture.

I started writing early, had my first story published in the local newspaper when I was eleven. But I took a detour and everything was put on hold while I pursued and realized my dream of becoming a performer. I took it up again while stuck in the hotel in which I was performing in darkest Africa, during the rainy season. I decided to record my impressions of that continent during a ten week tour that took me to Israel, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana and Zambia. The resulting essay was published in the woman's magazine 'Over 21'. And they paid me! From articles I moved on to short stories. My first novel, which led on to the 'Lightbringer' Sword and Sorcery Trilogy was written while I was expecting my son and published just before he was born. Thanks to my then representative, Sheelagh O'Donovan who was a Llterary as well as a Performing Artists agent, I moved into TV and film writing. And here I am, still writing and still loving it.

When you write, you create worlds. It is the ultimate imaginative indulgence. I recently wrote a book set in Spain. I wrote it in Wales, where the rain never ceased over a three month period. And yet for at least three hours every morning I was in a place where the sun was shining. It helped me escape a truly unpleasant winter.

I'm working on trying to get to grips with internet marketing right now. This is not my area of expertise and I have to be honest, I'd much rather get on with writing new material. However, I have a new short story anthology out there 'Worse things than spiders' which I want to put up on Smashwords and four projects ready to go -

1. A children's novel set in the '70's called 'Me and Mrs B'.

2. A romance (believe it or not) set in Andalucia and called 'Spanish Eyes'. I would intend to publish this as Lee Webb (my actual surname) so as not to confuse the issue.

3. A personal memoire called 'Larios and Love' and ...

4. A collection of first hand articles on Spain called 'Sketches of Spain' (after the Miles Davis long player) written and published in various national and international magazines during the time I lived in Malaga.

I've also got a couple of screenplays (one black comedy, one rom com) I'd like to run up the flagpole, just to see if anyone salutes. And a third, based on 'Lori', the first book in my 'Demon' trilogy.

I'm also having my website and my facebook page reworked. So a lot to be getting on with.

If the weather is good I like to walk. We have a canal here and two rivers so the walking is good. No traffic. No pollution. If it's not good (and in Wales it is frequently vile), I go to yoga. I read, of course, always, at night, before going to sleep. I don't have a TV in the bedroom. I don't have a TV. I go to the theatre reasonably frequently. I go to the cinema at least once a week. I like to eat out with friends, or have them round for drinks and a chat. I travel - though not as much as I used to when I was a singer and travelled all over the world at other people's expense. I go to Spain a lot. I lived there for four years at one point and fourteen recently. I am a sun worshipper and hate the long dark winters in the UK. I read speak and write Spanish and love the culture and the history. But although I am gregarious, I am also very happy in my own company. Solitude doesn't bother me - which is just as well since, as a writer, you need to be alone a great deal of the time. When I have a plot point or a character arc to sort out, I meditate. I also listen to music, all kinds of music but with a preference towards classical and jazz. I am a member of the local Jazz Club and steward at the annual Festival. I am also a member of the Book Club and the Film Club. Never bored. Never lonely. Love my life.

The first story I ever read myself (before that my parents used to read to me) was 'The Wizard of Oz'. I loved it bit I'm afraid I missed the moral ie that there's 'no place like home'. All I wanted to do was hit the yellow brick road and head over the rainbow as soon as possible. I've been searching for the pot of gold at the end of it ever since.