I am Helen Keeler. I live on the Wirral in the North West of the UK and other than a couple of years in London, I’ve lived here all my life. I married Carl on 1st November 1997 and we have exceeded every one's expectations (probably even including our own!) by remaining together and very happy too. I believe that all relationships are ever-changing dynamics and our marriage is richer and we are closer than we ever could have imagined when we first started out. I love him totally.

We have three wonderful children; Ruby, Lois and Max. They are very different from one another and each is marvellous in their own special way. Ruby has Asperger’s Syndrome, which is a form of high-functioning Autism. This is sometimes challenging for us, but we continue to learn so much about her and from her. I am a Parent Governor at my children's school and child welfare is very important to me.

I love music and have quite eclectic tastes ranging from classical and jazz to heavy rock. I spend what little me-time I get listening to music, reading, painting and drawing, baking or playing low stakes games of online poker...it's only now I've written that down that I realise how weird that combination of pastimes might sound! I also love eating good food and going to the movies.

I am planning a self-portrait in the Art Deco style and asked my husband to take some headshots of me to work from; the photo of me is one of these.

I work as a freelance writer. My credits include speech writing, writing scripts that are used in the training of police officers and writing comedy for a satirical news website. I have written several children's books, which I am in the process of illustrating, and am also currently writing a comic novel for adults, all of which I hope to get published!

In addition to that, I am a committee member and the editor of the members' newsletter of a UK humanitarian not-for-profit organisation called LifeLines. The first organisation of its kind in the UK, LifeLines was founded to find penfriends for death row inmates, many of whom have had disadvantaged backgrounds and lack human contact. We at LifeLines do not forget the victims of violent crime and have had people who have lost close family members to violent crime speak at our conferences. Abolishing the death penalty would help halt the cycle of violence that exists and make a better society for everyone.

I am passionate about justice, humanitarianism, the environment and making positive change.

I hope you enjoy reading what I post and that I can add something a little bit different to what is already a great blog!