The Story So Far....

I was born in Dumbarton, Scotland. It's between Loch Lomond and Glasgow, give or take a bit. My family emigrated to Australia when I was 7 years old. We moved house seven times before I was twelve and I went to five different primary schools, so I got used to being the new kid on the block. I learnt to speak a new language...well sort of. I learnt to go shopping instead of do the messages; to do the vacuuming rather than the hoovering. But I quickly developed an Aussie accent so people would stop asking me to say things in the playground.

I always loved reading and read anything that I could get my hands on. I particularly loved myths and legends. I escaped to imaginary places because we moved around a lot and we'd left all of our extended family back in Scotland.

I always loved reading and writing poetry. Funnily enough, in high school, I ended up doing science rather than English. I thought it would get me a better job.

I started off as a lab technician but since I didn't get to talk to anyone all day, I started to worry that I might be a figment of my own imagination. So I became a teacher instead and now I get to talk to people all day.

I am still a part-time secondary science teacher.

I live with my husband, two daughters, a pet labrador and sometimes my husband's other two children. My Mum, the Gags Machine comes to stay and does our ironing. Everyone should have a Gags Machine. She's called Gags because my daughter called my mum 'Ga-Ga'. Then as Ga-Ga became less cool, it got shortened to Gags. And she's a machine because she never stops cleaning. Hey, maybe I should write a story about her...oops already done.

I started writing after the birth of my second daughter. It was something I'd always wanted to do but didn't think I was good enough. A friend convinced me that it was never too late to start. So I wrote my first story, collected my first rejection and found it wasn't so bad after all. I'm still really grateful that the rejection letter was so kind and encouraging or I might have given up.

And one morning the phone rang and it was the scariest thing...an editor. I tried sound sophisticated on the phone as I jumped on the couch and ran around the room. I had to barricade myself in the bathroom to talk to this editor, while my children battered on the door. I'd been picked up from the infamous 'slush pile.' So, as the saying goes, it doesn't happen overnight but it can happen.

My girls think I am the grossest and rudest mother in the world...and sometimes I think my students do too.

That’s it in a nutshell. If you are interested in the background to my books, you can click on the links at the side.

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