Where do you live, and where did you grow up?
I live in horse country, in a house in the woods near Ottawa, Canada's capital city. I grew up near Toronto, in an area of fields and farms where there were also lots of horses.

What books did you like as a child?
So many! Some of my favorites were Alice in Wonderland, My Friend Flicka, Enid Blyton's Famous Five books, Anne of Green Gables, the Narnia series. I always had my nose in a book, and read at night with a flashlight after lights out.

Who are your favorite authors?
Right at the moment: Alexander McCall Smith, Patrick O'Brien, J.K. Rowling, Jane Smiley and Annie Proulx. I still read lots of children's books and every book I can find about wild horses.

When and why did you decide to become a writer? Did you write stories when you were a child?
My father was a writer so I was surrounded by books and manuscripts as a child. I wrote and illustrated my own stories from a young age. Before I knew how to read or write, I made up stories for my brother, Chris, and pretended to read them from a book which was often upside down! But when people asked me if I was going to be a writer like my dad, I always said "No!" It wasn't until I was in my thirties that it finally dawned on me I'd been a writer all along and might even make a living at it.

Where and when do you write?
In the house my husband, Jeff, built two years ago, I have a great office up under the eaves. It has a window looking out at the woods and is full of horse books and pictures. I also like to write in coffee shops, on airplanes, buses and trains, or sometimes just sitting on the side of a hill. I write any time of day -- all day if I have a deadline to meet! And even when I'm not actually writing, I'm always working on my next book in my mind. I try to keep paper handy so if a good idea strikes I have some way to record it.

Do you have a favorite book of the ones you have written?
When people ask me that I always think it's like asking which is my favorite daughter (I have three, Amy, Kate and Becky). I'm fond of certain books for different reasons -- for instance I like the ghost horse in Brave Horse and I love the ranch I invented for the Wild Horse Creek series I'm working on now. I wish I could find a place exactly like it!

Do you have a favorite character that you've created?
I have the same problem picking favourites among my characters
-- I'd hate to offend the others! Perhaps my favorite horse character is Caspar, the big white horse in the Saddle Island series because he reminds me of one of the horses I once rode.

Do you ever put real people into your books?
The characters in my books are all based on real people I've met or people in my family. But of course I change them so they become fictional. And then they grow and become "themselves" as a book or series progresses--just the way real kids grow!

Where do ideas for your books come from?
My ideas come from stories I hear, real life adventures and experiences. For instance I found an old horseshoe by the side of the road this weekend. It had long rusty nails sticking out of every hole -- not horseshoe nails but the kind you pound in wood. Where did it come from and why all those nails? I asked my neighbour, an eighty-year-old farmer. He recognized that rusty horseshoe right away and told me the story of why it had long nails and how it came to be lying on the dirt road near my house. Maybe it's the beginning of a new story.

What do you do in your spare time?
I read, explore the country around my new home, ride horses whenever I can.

Do you ride? How old were you when you started riding, and do you ride now?
I fell in love with horses at a very early age. My brother and I used to ride the work horses on the farm across the road. We'd lure them to the fence with apples and then climb the fence to clamber on their backs. Those were short rides! I dreamed and schemed and plotted and planned to get a horse of my own my entire childhood, but it never happened. I never got to be a very good rider, but retained my love for and interest in horses (especially wild horses!). When I started writing, they galloped into my books and back into my life.

These days I ride at a lovely stable called Meadowbrook Farms and go trail riding at a place called The Eastern Cowboy. My husband and I go on horse treks in the Rockies and Arizona and this year are going riding (we hope) in Scotland.

Please tell us about any pets (especially horses) that you have.
I have a wonderful dog called Brio. He's a golden retriever who grins when he's happy. He likes people and other dogs and gets along with everybody. Brio loves to eat--especially vegetables --carrots, celery, broccoli, green peppers and tomatoes. He goes mad for mushrooms. Sadly, I still don't have a horse of my own but I ride a great horse called Doc.

Did you have a favorite subject in school?
I liked geography and literature.

Do you have a favorite food?
Yes! My favourites are chocolate and artichokes.

Do you listen to music, and what kind?
I often listen to music while I write. My favorite band at the moment is Gypsophilia, from Halifax. And I love to listen to my daughter Becky sing. She's working on her own CD at the moment. Other than that I like jazz, reggae, rock and folk music.

Do you have any favorite TV shows or movies?
I don't watch a lot of TV, but right now I'm enjoying "The No. 1 Ladies; Detective Agency." I do watch a lot of movies -- I like stories of all kinds and movies are another way of storytelling.

What is your favorite place in the world?
That's easy! It's a log cabin we built on an island in Northern Ontario. We cut down the trees, floated them to the island and built the cabin ourselves without electricity. Our kids helped peel the bark off the logs and they slept in tents while we were building. The island and the land around the lake is all publicly owned so you can canoe and hike and pick blueberries to your heart's content.

Do you have a personal motto?
If I do it might be: "The next adventure is right over the hill!"

What else would you like your readers to know about you?
When I was 20 I traveled to Africa, took a barge loaded with onions up the Nile River (very smelly by the end of the trip), taught school in Uganda, and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. I still have dreams about that mountain! I'm sad that the snow on the top is melting. I have always wanted to return to East Africa and maybe someday I will.

I love the natural world. In most of my books the bad guys are thoughtless hunters, greedy miners or developers, people who have little regard for our beautiful planet and the creatures who live on it.

In my writing I want to give my readers a sense of joy and wonder and kindle a spirit of adventure. I also like to make them laugh.