About

I remember loving stories from an early age. Not surprising considering both my parents were (and still are) avid readers. A story at bed time was a fixed event long after I was able to read independently.

At ten I made a discovery which would change the course of my life – not only could read stories, I could write them.

It all began with writing small stories of Willy’s adventures at the 1984 Olympics, extending out from the one prequisite for the classroom into three. And I have never really ever stop writing – or wanting to write. A story about a dog living on a farm, scribbled into my mothers shopping list notepad came next and later a 100 A4 page “novel” during the summer holidays between my first and second years at high school.

My dream to write “professionally” was a long time coming!

A bad experience with a writer in residence at university cast a pall over my writing for almost ten years I hid my growing numbers of first chapters, first drafts in a red crate under my bed afraid to show them to anyone.You can only stomach being told once you are “naive” and should trade writing for living in the real world.

I treated myself to a short story writing course in 2000 but the momentum was killed by a full time job.

The big break came with the birth of myson in 2004. Finally I had some time and freedom outside of earning a living or channelling all my creative potential into university study. Three years after taking on the Editorship of Down to Birth, the Home Midwifery Associations quarterly magazine, and having met Danae Sinclair and completing The Artist Way I took the leap to “just write.” I was fortunate enough to embark on my journey as a writer at the same time as my (now) best friend Annie Evett, sharing the trials and tribuations of writing, internet connections, balancing family and crazy writing locations.

The veteran of two National Novel Writing Months (2007 & 08), I juggle non fiction writing committments for Type A Mom and Write Anything with my own fiction publishing projects which includes regular Fiction Friday short stories and the online serial Captain Juan. In the second half of 2009 I will be launching the Chinese Whisperings anthology project with co-editor Paul Anderson and eight other intrepid writers.

I describe myself as working across genres – influenced by theme (and the voices in myhead). My stories fly under the thematic banners of love, loss, betrayal, the dynamics of power and the eternal question what if?

Along with my partner Dave, son Dylan, Keats the Cat and Bo the Fish, I call the leafy southern suburbs of Brisbane home.

Photo by Karen van Harskamp