Hi Everyone

I first found the Twilight series in December 08, and since then have read the series three times and was introduced to the fanfic world (how the hell did I not know that this even existed??) in April 09.

I am a 43 yo happily married mother of 5. I am not working at the moment (in paid employment anyway), but with my eldest being 13 yo, and the youngest just 4 1/2, life generally keeps me pretty busy. In what seems like a previous life, I was a teacher, who spent most of her time focusing on teaching children to read and write, and working with other teachers, teaching them how to do it.

I'm a dog person. It's not that I don't like cats, it's just that they don't seem to like me!

I'm also an Aussie, living in the warm and beautiful Sunshine State (aka Queensland, or Banana Bender country). I did, however, spend the first 16 years of married life living in Sydney. I will always be a die hard Queenslander, but as my kids were all born in NSW, they are colloquially known as 'cockroaches'. However, they are not allowed to live that in our household. (Re-reading this bit, I realise it will only make sense to fellow Aussies, but what the heck...for all you others out there, consider it an educational experience in all things Australian.)

I love to read, but have never written fiction before, so found the whole experience pretty daunting, however, with some incredible support from some wonderful ladies I have met on the threads and continued encouragement from my incredible betas - Grendel, Lalina and Sandyk199, the Ties That Bind is now complete. The idea for TTTB came to mind while I was hanging out the washing. Don't ask me why...usually my character's dialogue usually came to mind whilst I was in the shower...must have something to do with me being born under a watersign.

The Ties That Bind took just under two years to write (it was in my head for quite a while before that). My style and skill has improved over time, mostly due to the efforts of my betas who have taught me so much. I plan to go back and edit the earlier chapters at some point to tighten them up, but for now, I am focused on my family and spending time with them.

What else...?

I'm a huge Harry Potter fan, but didn't start reading that series until after book 5 was published. I rectified my oversight, and have read the series at least 8 times... for my 39th birthday, which coincided with the release of book 7, my present was 24 hours, uninterruped in a hotel room, with room service, a bottle of champagne, NO KIDS and a brand spanking new copy of the Deathly Hallows. Best present ever. If you find it difficult to get the time to read due to real life chaos, you should really try it... but I had to read the book again a week later... I think the champagne and the euphoria of a whole night's unterrupted sleep befuddled my brain...

And in the spirit of complete honesty, I had NO IDEA that the actor who played Cederic Diggory and Edward Cullen was the same person, let alone that he was Robert Pattinson. In fact, after I saw Twilight for the first time, I had to come home and look up the name of the actor and then google him because it was bugging me that he looked familiar. TRUE. HONESTLY... Hey, life with 5 kids keeps me pretty much out of the loop on most things...including the daily news.

Another couple of facts: on the day Princess Di died, I was driving back from the Perisher Blue (a snow field in NSW) with a friend, and we chatted the whole way (6 hours... yeah, I can talk!!) and never turned on the radio, not once, so had no idea what had happened and Australia was one of the first countries to break the news! And another time, when the twin towers were hit, I woke up to watch the morning TV news completely unaware of what had transpired during my night time, and as I was getting up to speed with the horror of it all, I started yelling at the screen because no-one was commenting on the fact that a second plane had just crashed into the second tower as I was watching - I was just standing there, screaming at the TV - "There's another one...there's another one..." I had no idea that I was watching footage that was nearly 7 hours old (still gives me goose bumps and a very hollow feeling, that one). And yet another time, our nation's capital, Canberra, had been surrounded by bushfires for three days before I found out! But then again, in my defence that time, I had been surrounded by vomitting kids for three days, so fair's fair I say!!

But seriously, I have learned from my mistakes, and the first thing I do each morning now, after putting the kettle on to boil, is turn on my kitchen radio to listen for the news. Who says an old dog can't learn new tricks?

So, while I may not be any good at current affairs... I hope that when you read "The Ties That Bind", you find something that you like and stay to enjoy the journey. :)

There is also an out-take for this story. You'll find the link for it listed somewhere (under my profile???). It's a BPOV from her and Edward's ill-fated night together while on holidays 22 years ago.

Recently, I have been toying with the idea for another outake. It's a particular scene I desperately wanted to write, but with the way I tied things up, I couldn't slot it in at the time...now though, once I find the time to write it, I'll include it as an outake...so make sure you have me on author alert if you're interested in reading it so that you'll get an alert when I post it.

I have also written a non-TTTB related oneshot for the FicsforNashville fundraiser. It's a brief one shot - only just over 1K words, but this is a very different kind of Bella and Edward to what you're used to from me. I've toyed with the idea of extending this fic...but that's all it is a the moment...just a series of unexpanded plot points...and a few uneditted chapters...maybe, one day...

Thank you to the people who voted for TTTB in The SparkleteerAwards... TTTB won it's section of "Most Original Plot"... thank you!

And here's a note to all you readers out there. Please give a thought to the writers who write the stories you love to read; leave a review, at sometime, during the reading process. It never ceases to amaze me how so many readers can read what writers have put hours upon hours of work into, and not even consider it polite to leave a "thank you for writing" message at the end. Surely, if a reader has taken the time to read a story from beginning to end, the same reader can also take the time to leave the writer a message at some point along the way? It's only basic manners after all - for every minute a reader spends reading a story, you can guarantee that the writer has spent considerably more time, plotting, planning, writing, proofing, editing and re-editing the same text. Writers in the fandom write for free, and share their ideas and creativity with you all. The only acknowledgement a writer in ficland receives is some politely worded messages of thanks from readers. I don't believe it's too much to ask of a reader...do you?

Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time

Leisa