I caught the writing bug after I quit my job as a lawyer to be at home with my daughter.

The high tide of maternal hormones ebbed fairly quickly.

I’d like my books to make a difference—even if it is to just one person.

I’m proud that I’ve kept working at this writing business even if it can on occasion seem discouraging.

I imagined, when I was in the UK studying law that I would return to Malaysia, fight for things I cared about—human rights, accountability and democracy. One day I would be elevated to the bench and write judgments on important issues that would stand the test of time as precedents.

I’m not the first ambitious woman to discover that children change one’s priorities, at least in the short term!

My husband reads my drafts, tells me they’re great and holds my hand when the rejection letters come in. Also, he tells me whodunit in my crime novels when I can’t decide between all the potential murderers.

A small part of me would like to go back to full-time employment. But I hope very much to keep writing about the things I care about—politics, sport and the environment—for both adults and kids.

I miss being a lawyer. It’s such an interesting, surprising and occasionally amusing subject.

Law is the means by which humanity seeks to maintain a standard of individual and social behavior.

There’s usually a legal angle to my crime fiction books somewhere! I still have this idea that I might go back to practice sometime. But it seems more and more unlikely.

I don’t think anyone is going to hire me as it’s been a long time since I followed an instruction.

My most secret desire is to be a soccer star! I make up for the disappointment by training my children to play the sport and writing children’s novels about it.

I take a break by watching Fox News and shouting rude things at the telly. It’s shocking what right-wing propaganda they dish out as news.

My last thought will probably be that I wish I’d spent more time watching TV.

On a perfect day, Obama wins the re-election and I have Thai food and Champagne for dinner to celebrate.

In a word, I’m dissatisfied. It’s an exhausting way to be but I always think I can do more, work harder and try something else. I expect I’ll keep it up until I keel over one day.

I’m not the sort of person who ever thinks a job is done. I just move the goalposts a bit further out.

If I were an animal, I’d be a sun bear. I’m brown, cuddly and short-tempered as well.

We deprive our children of a future if the government and society fail to deal with climate change in a rational way.

Don’t limit your world to what you can see and touch. Read a book and expand the horizons of the mind. I promise I’m not just saying this because I’m a writer!