Hi, this is me when I was a baby.
By the time I was three years old I had learnt to drive and was working part time as a chauffeur…alright, alright… it was my Dad's car.
And just to prove that not everything was black and white in those days, here is a picture of me in colour.
Some writers start writing stories from an early age, but I was happy to play with lego, toy cars and a strange machine that made animal noises.
This is me playing the guitar when I was about 15. I should have stuck with the animal noise machine instead - it was easier to play and sounded much better.
For a long time I wanted to be a radio presenter or a disc jockey, so I went to Sunderland University and took a degree in Communication Studies.
It was during my time at university that I started writing stories and really decided that I was going to be a writer.
The first stories I wrote were horror stories - and they were pretty horrible too... but not very good.
This is Laura performing in the musical Chicago...
Just like Presto the Wizard, in this picture by the wonderful illustrator, Korky Paul, everyone in our family loves sharing stories and reading books.
I often write about the books that are being read in our house in my diary.
