I was born in Corpus Christi Texas the youngest of four girls including my oldest sister Lisa who has special needs. My mom was a special education teacher and my dad worked on the Army base. We weren't wealthy but we were determined to succeed.

My dad is a bank president and my mom was an accountant and they didn't think that seeking the life of a freelance writer was very practical you see. Of course I was just as determined to do it.

I am the granddaughter of a Welsh coal miner who was determined that his kids get out of the mines. My dad got his first job when he was six years old in a little village in Wales called Nantyffyllon cleaning bottles at the Colliers Arms.

My father came from a very poor background but I was very fortunate in the sense that we were never in need. My dad was determined to make sure that we didn't want for things. He wanted to give us more opportunity than he had a better shot at a better life.

I'd love to be an artist that's multifaceted. At the moment I am not. But wouldn't that be cool if I was like 'Yeah let me pull out my guitar and play you a song.' I would adore that. I am so far not gifted in that way. But I am a very hard worker and a very determined person so who knows?

We know that communication must be hampered and its form largely determined by the unconscious but inevitable influence of a transmitting mechanism whether that be of a merely mechanical or of a physiological character.

My mother was determined to make us independent. When I was four years old she stopped the car a few miles from our house and made me find my own way home across the fields. I got hopelessly lost.

The seven marvels that best represent man's achievements over the last 2 000 years will be determined by Internet vote... so look for Howard Stern's Private Parts to come in No. 1.

A Harvard Medical School study has determined that rectal thermometers are still the best way to tell a baby's temperature. Plus it really teaches the baby who's boss.

As a mom I know it is my responsibility and no one else's to raise my kids. But we have to ask ourselves what does it mean when so many parents are finding their best efforts undermined by an avalanche of advertisements aimed at our kids.