Here are some answers to the questions that people tend to ask me.
What does the "A" stand for?
My first name is "Andrea". I was named after my dad's sister, which is kind of a family tradition. To avoid confusion, everyone calls me by my middle name.
What are the national symbols of Canada?
The maple leaf, which is on the Canadian flag and on things like jars of maple syrup (tasty stuff).
Castor Canadensis, better known as the beaver. The beaver is the second largest rodent in the world. Why did we pick a bucktoothed rat to be our national symbol? In school we were taught that beavers are hardworking, noble, and honest and that these are traits that all good Canadians should possess. But really it has more to do with the fur trade and how Canada developed out of that.
The moose, largest member of the deer family, with huge antlers and a massive body weight that can crush a car if you're unlucky enough to run into one.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), also known as mounties, "who always get their man". My grandpa was a mountie in the 1930s. They were called "mounted police" because they rode horses. Nowadays, they mostly drive cars.
Why did you move to Ireland?
I wanted to have an adventure. I wanted to travel. I wanted to see where my grandpa was born (a little village in County Tyrone).
Do you make a living from your writing?
I make a living from writing but not from writing fiction. I work as a technical writer at a computer company. I work with engineers to write technical documents that are also easy to understand.
Where do you get your ideas?
My ideas can come from a lot of sources. I use my own childhood, and stories from my family and friend's families. Music, movies, other books, a bit of conversation. For more details, you can read my blog entry here.