1 I was born on 20 March 1980, so I’m on the cusp of Pisces and Aries, and was born in the Chinese year of the Monkey.

2 I’ve never had a pet, though I wanted one when I was a kid.

3 I can bellydance.

4 I feel a connection to Egypt, maybe it’s a past-life thing. I visited the Red Sea in 2002 but would like to visit Cairo one day.

5 I love Japanese curry and tempura.

6 I don’t like sushi.

7 I’ve owned 3 different ipods so far.

8 I started reading at the age of two.

9 By the time I was six I’d read all of the books in my infant school and had to get books from the library in the primary school.

10 I love Chinese food. Special fried rice, sweet and sour, black bean sauce, Peking chicken, chow fun…

11 I play the African djembe and djun-djuns drums for stress relief.

12 My voice has a four-octave range. Mariah Carey has about 5 octaves. I’m a contralto (I have a low voice).

13 My first singing teacher regularly made people cry by making them sing too high, but somehow I managed with him.

14 One of my music teachers was clearly a butch lesbian, but I didn’t realise until later. It wouldn’t have mattered to me anyway.

15 A piano teacher I saw for a while shocked me one day when I visited him for a lesson. He was bald and usually wore long trousers whenever I saw him. On a hot day I got to his house a few minutes early. He opened the door to me while wearing just a vest and shorts, so I discovered that he was a werewolf under his clothes! I couldn’t concentrate on playing the piano while all that body hair was in my line of sight.

16 My favourite producer is Timbaland. I’d love to work with him.

17 I love watching larger people who can move well, like Missy Elliott when she was bigger, and larger bellydancers.

18 I want to go to a wrestling or boxing match at some point.

19 I want to be an action heroine.

20 My personal theme is Maneater by Nelly Furtado.

21 I was a naughty teen. My 20s have been relatively virtuous.

22 I don’t smoke.

23 I rarely drink alcohol. If I deign to drink I’ll have a Smirnov Ice or a dry martini with lemonade.

24 My great-grandmother was a spiritual healer.

25 I hate creepy crawlies.

26 In 1986, when I was six years old, I was stung by a bee and bitten by a dog. Phobias ensued from both incidents.

27 I don’t subscribe to any religion, though I was brought up as a Catholic.

28 I’m 5ft5, which is the average height for women in the UK.

29 My middle fingers on both hands bend slightly away from my thumbs.

30 I love to take long baths. I immerse myself in very warm water, then slowly heat up the water until I’m almost scalded.

31 I like the Ministry of Sound’s PUMP IT UP workouts.

32 I like Hed Kandi dance mixes.

33 I think my best features are my lips and eyes.

34 Though I’m overweight my body is firm… no wobbles here.

35 When I was 17 I based my A-Level Sociology project on the gay subculture. Naturally it involved lots of social immersion research at gay clubs…

36 I love gay clubs.

37 I’ve only been to one lesbian club (Candy Bar), but that was fun too.

38 I have a habit of attracting inappropriate men.

39 I look at meaty blokes on the street. Mmmm, meat.

40 I like any food which is unhealthy.

41 I love chocolate. Especially Lindt.

42 I want to travel and have more adventures.

43 I went to university for a month in 1998. I studied Spanish and Creative Writing, then decided that it wasn’t for me at that point. I still regret not getting it done then.

44 I am blessed with an abundance of common sense and an unflappable sense of calm at work.

45 I’d like to find a muse for my writing and photography.

46 I have been suffering from a (fiction) writing block since 2006.

47 I always feel like I need to know more, like I’ve missed out somehow.

48 I’m a mac girl. Have been since 2001.

49 I’ve worked in three libraries.

50 I worked in McDonalds for four days when I was sixteen. After getting grease burns on my arms and being sworn at by the managers my mum made me quit. I didn’t mind quitting though.

51 I’m still a naughty girl sometimes. At least in my head.

52 I spend too much money.

53 I can’t drive yet.

54 I can’t swim either.

55 I admire literary writers, but I’m aiming to be a commercial one. I still want to be respected though.

56 One of my dreams is to see a commuter reading one of my novels on the train.

57 I like deep voices.

58 I like having finished something. Being able to dispose of or replace something. I don’t know why.

59 When a guy says he likes me I wonder why. It’s like that Groucho Marx feeling of not wanting to be a member of any club that would have me as a member.

60 I have recently started learning about mythology, and I love it.

61 My favourite portraitist is Dorothy Wilding.

62 I want to take nude photos, but first I need a model. Any volunteers?

63 I often listen to music from the late 90s.

64 I used to read a lot of romance novels. Now I mix it up genre-wise.

65 I love to be gripped by a storyline. I remember reading Killing Me Softly by Nicci French during my trip to Tokyo. I started reading it on a quiet evening, and I couldn’t go to sleep until I’d finished it in the wee hours.

66 Sometimes I daydream about running away to live the simple life at a farm.

67 Then I laugh at myself for being silly.

68 I’m good at giving massages.

69 I’ve got Level One Reiki healing, and I’ve been initiated to the the Egyptian Sekhem and Seichim energies.

70 I enjoy reading translated non-English language works, like novels by South-American and Japanese authors. I’ve read three books by Haruki Murakami so far.

71 Sometimes I think that I’ll never be happy.

72 I’m not cut out for the nine-to-five, 2.4 children, unhappy marriage kind of life that so many people seem to have.

73 Sometimes I frustrate myself.

74 I like body combat/boxing aerobics classes.

75 Sometimes I want to hit something. Hard.

76 Sometimes I walk with a swagger to my hips. Like my body’s telling the world, “Just try it, and see what you get.”

77 I hate hearing parents swearing at their young children. My parents never swore at me when I was growing up. Or even now.

78 During the summer of 2006 I had an obsession with Valerie Martin’s books. I read every single book of hers I could get my hands on. Her sparse style resonated with me. I’d love to write like her.

79 I like being tucked up in bed while it’s raining outside.

80 I’m physically affectionate and tactile with friends, but I can’t stand being prodded and jostled by strangers (on the train, etc.).

81 I tend to get on better with men.

82 I’ve had a few male best friends, but eventually they seem doomed to try to sleep with me.

83 I lost my virginity when I was 14, to my then male best friend…

84 My first internet date was with a half-Brazilian half-Chinese male model. It’s been going downhill since then.

85 I have a killer right-hook.

86 I have generic features, so sometimes people tell me that they know someone who looks just like me… they never do.

87 My dad has unusually shaped eyes, and my mum has light brown eyes, so of course I’m blessed with bog-standard dark brown eyes.

88 I have a half-brother and half-sister whom I’ve only met once. I’m an aunt, but I’ve only met my niece once.

89 I love cheese.

90 I want to be rich.

91 I rarely play the lottery. The most I’ve won was £42.

92 I’ve never worn a bikini.

93 I love staying in hotels. I’d love to book one just for the alone time and the freedom and the space.

94 People say I have a husky voice.

95 I love a good snog. With the right person I could kiss for hours.

96 I hate the phrase “getting off” - it’s too vague.

97 I regularly type “u” instead of “you” on msn, but I rarely use any other abbreviations.

98 I love New York.

99 I think monkeys are cute.