The horse, the noblest, bravest, proudest, most courageous and certainly the most perverse and infuriating animal that humans ever domesticated

My eyes are green, my hair is silver and I freckly; the rest is subject to change without notice.

I did not have a chance to write novels until my youngest child started school fulltime

But I will say that living in Ireland has changed the cadence and fullness of speech, since the Irish love words and use as many of them in a sentence as possible

People have freaked out when I tell them that my dragons are scientifically based... what else can you call a genetically engineered life form?

I do outlines when I'm writing with someone, but they also need to have a certain amount of freedom

Of course, an exhausting day at sail lines and nets left little energy to expend on running or laughing. Perhaps that was why her parents couldn't appreciate her music - it wouldn't appear to be hard work to them. Menolly shook her hands, letting them flap from her wrists. They ached and trembled from the constricted movements and tension of an hour of intensive playing. No, her parents would never understand that playing musical instruments could be as hard work as sailing or fishing.