I've been an avid writer and reader since I was a young child and my favorite writers include (but are not limited to) Toni Morrison, Octavia Butler, Robert Jordan, Richard Wright, Janet Fitch, Steven Barnes, Tannanarive Due, Nalo Hopkinson, John Steinbeck, Zora Neale Hurston, Daniel Quinn,Chinua Achebe, JRR Tolkien, Isabel Allende, JK Rowling, Ayn Rand, Dean Koontz, Sistah Souljah and too many more to name! In my spare time besides reading, I enjoy healthy cooking, trying foods of different cultures, working to help conserve nature and wildlife, studying nearly extinct languages, etymology, studying evolutionary Botany, caring for my collection of carnivorous plants and of course, writing.