Animals have never betrayed me. They are an easy prey, as I have been throughout my career. So we feel the same. I love them.
I just love writing. It's magical, it's somewhere else to go, it's somewhere much more dreadful, somewhere much more exciting. Somewhere I feel I belong, possibly more than in the so-called real world.
You can only have one first born child. You may love all your children deeply and with passion, but there is something unique about the first born.