We are free to be ourselves, no matter how hard it can be.

You know the saying...There is only one of you.

That's it!

We can aspire, we can learn, we can look to other people and still be us.

No need to be clones, no need to follow the trend, no need to keep up with anybody.

Being a clone is a lost cause. Why would you want to be one?

I see it every day, people dressing like him, sporting the same hairdo, trying to talk like him.

Desperate to get his attention. Why?

I've never got that. Anyway "him" will be talked about in more detail in my latetst novel if you're wondering what I'm on about. This is me, the mad writer! I start talking about one thing and I digress. I didn't mean to talk about him. He's lovely though, he'll get a voice in the book, and more...

Often I'm asked whose writing shaped me as a novelist. Well, not just one author. Don't ask me to name just one author! Please!

Of course there are many, from the first book I picked up as a child to the one I've just put down. Life has shaped me, circumstances but most of all the way I've reacted and dealt with whatever life throws at you shapes you.

So, that's it, this is me. Like it or not. Oh, I'm still a pleaser. I still find it hard to say no. I also know my priorities.

And I can say no. I've been asked again to do interviews. Not the purely writerly interviews. I've been asked to talk about my life. While I'm happy to share my experiences I'm not for sale. So we had a chat, and another, and another...and I felt even more ill than I was.

Our press doesn't want to hear a story of overcoming the odds and being positive. Well, they do, as long as you're willing to provide every single gory detail. I'm not in this to name and shame people who have no more room in my life, "them". They don't get a voice. I'm not after revenge either.

So no, I'm not for sale. If you want to know my story, fine, but on my own terms.

It's my life and I'm not giving going to offer you pieces of me to sell your papers and magazines.

My life!