About Me

I'm from Brisbane, Australia, and when I was eight I broke Will Robinson's leg. Thankfully, since Will Robinson was a character in Lost In Space, I only broke his leg in my mind, and I did it with the sole purpose of caring for him in a kind and loving manner (I think I might've disposed of that pesky Robot as well). Of course now I can look back and see this was probably the first sign I might want to be a romance writer, but unfortunately, at the time I couldn't see past the whole Hot Guy with limited mobility thing. 

Will Robinson wasn't the only clue that I ignored. Growing up,  I read just about any book I could get my hands on. English was my best subject at school. I studied Journalism at The University of Queensland and hated it because it was all so...well...factual. Clues, all of them, yet it wasn't until my late twenties that I suddenly woke up one morning and out of the blue, decided to write a book. My husband and mother thought this was a fine joke and very kindly helped me with titles. I think their favorite was, Lust in the Dust. They still laugh about it.

The weird thing was, that after years of having no career ambitions what so ever, I suddenly knew what I wanted to do. My first attempt was a romance which was pretty dreadful, but after we moved to New Zealand, I attempted another equally dreadful one. Then, a week before we moved to England in 1999, I read an article about British Chick Lit and instantly went out and bought, Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees', Come Together. I read the book on the plane and was overwhelmed with understanding. Finally I knew what sort of books I wanted to write. 

As soon as we were settled in Liverpool, I started writing a book about a girl who was forced to be a bridesmaid at her younger sister's wedding. It was entirely done in emails and was enticingly called Lovedotcom. The minute I had finished three chapters I started to send it out and the third agent requested the full and then asked for me to ring her. She was lovely and I went down to London to have lunch with her. Nothing ended up coming of that book, or the next, or the next, but then I won a competition with the RWNZ and the prize was to be published by Heartline, a new romance press in the UK. Again, I went to London for lunch, but this time the publisher went out of business, before my book came out. After that I decided to send some work to Harlequin, which is when I met my critique partners (known as the Witches). I had very promising revisions with an editor at Harlequin Flipside (no lunch in London though!), however two weeks after I sent them off, the line was cancelled and once again I was back at square one.

Then in 2005, my dad died - just three days after I'd been to Australia to visit him. I knew he  was sick, but I hadn't expected him to pass away quite so soon. Especially since I live in England and the thought of hoping back on a plane for another 24 hours (and some) was a bit daunting. However, the funeral was put off for two weeks so I had a bit of recuperation time before I set out again, and actually the trip was quite good. Possibly because I normally travel with two children under six - and trust me, the difference is great.

The three days I had back in Australia were very therapeutic and most strongly marked by the conversations I had with my dad - well, yes, I know he was dead, but that didn't seem to stop him from talking! It started when I was helping to clean the house for the wake that was going to follow the funeral. My dad had a cleaning obsession that made Monica Geller look like a slacker, so while dusting, I couldn't help but feel that my father was up in heaven giving me directions - and not quiet ones either! In fact it seemed he was getting quite pissed off that I had missed a spot (and, okay so perhaps I hadn't bothered to do under the bookshelf, but puleez! Who is going to check under it at a funeral?) But, apparently - according to my dead dad - that wasn't the point. The point was if I was going to do something I should do it properly. Yeah, right. Whatever.

Anyway, the conversations continued all the way through the funeral and back to the UK where I was about to pick up on the book I'd almost finished writing. However, in one of those Eureka moments (which naturally occurred when I was in the shower), I suddenly had an idea for not a cranky old man shouting at me from heaven, but rather of a young girl. And boy was she pissed off. Apparently she was up in heaven looking at her funeral and couldn't believe how badly people had dressed for it. Like, where was the respect?

From there the book literally poured out of me and three weeks later it was finished. I sent it to a bunch of US agents and the requests started coming in almost immediately and about four weeks after the book was finished I got my first offer of representation. I nearly fell off my chair. I'd been trying to get published for six years. Six. And suddenly in under two months I managed to take a huge step forward. At this point another agent, Jenny Bent from Trident Media, had asked for revisions on the full manuscripts and I had been blown away with how clearly she could see how to make the book better than it had been, so when Jenny offered to represent me, I didn't hesitate to go with her and two and half weeks after she sent it out, we got an offer from NAL to publish my book, You Had Me at Halo.

It was definitely a strange time for me. I lost my dad in May but in October, five months and two days later, I sold my first book. And since I can quite easily write about a dead girl getting kicked out of heaven for talking too much, I have no problems believing that my dad helped pull a few strings up above. So thanks dad, I owe you one, and may everyone find the silver lining to their own dark clouds.

Extra Stuff

When I'm not writing, I'm busy looking after my two kids and husband. Of course, they might disagree on how much looking after I actually do, but like I often tell them, not everyone can burn a fish finger like I can.

Some of my favorite authors are: Julie Kenner, Michelle Rowen, Georgette Heyer, Jilly Cooper, Jane Austen, Janet Evanavich, Jill Mansell, Katie Fforde, Christina Jones, Liz Young, Sarah Morgan, Liz Fielding, Essie Summers, Betty Neels, Raymond E Feist, David Gemmell, Sarah Mason, Ursula le Guin, Anne McCaffery, Christopher Paolini, Eoin Colfer

As well as reading, I am a complete television addict and some of my favorite shows include (but not limited to): Buffy, Angel, Friends, Firefly, 24, My Name is Earl, How I Met Your Mother, Hex, Supernatural, Dark Angel, Love Island, American Idol, X Factor, Big Brother.