Okay, I admit it: right now, I am without a pet. I do have a cat nephew called Bear who is half Maine Coon and half vicious tiger, but I don’t have an animal living with me at present.

I don’t know whether that has had an impact on my writing. I certainly have enjoyed writing the dragons (dogs) in my Chances series, a nickname given when the first child of the younger generation had a dog called Dragon, and got a bit confused. The habit stuck with all their siblings, and their cousins, even to adulthood, leaving outsiders to the family a little befuddled when asked if they would like to walk the family dragon.

I have considered writing a cat lady, and in fact readers who adore spotting Lady Romeril in my stories will probably enjoy knowing that she has a great many cats, mostly Persians.

But perhaps I should be challenging myself a little more. Maybe I should be writing more exotic pets: parrots, maybe, or other birds which were hugely popular in the Regency and Victorian era, which is when I set my books.

Or maybe I should go even further, and include turtles, or exotic fish!

What do you think? Do you want to see more pets in my stories?