Thanks for your comments, Lori. You're right, Maud isn't me, nor is she the woman I've always longed to be -- it may be arrogance, but I've nearly always been content with just being myself, though I did go through a brief period in my childhood when I longed for green eyes and masses of flaming red hair like Jean Grey in the X-Men. (Which is why I have consciously never written a red-haired, green-eyed heroine, and probably never will.)

I like the bit about "untold cliched woes". Hee.