My Story
Welcome to my website, so pleased you made it. My story is fairly unremarkable. I wrote a story, published it and decided to do it again. I guess the remarkable part of my story, if there is any, is the journey it took me to get here.
As a teenager I spent 12 months in Thailand as an exchange student. It was in a remote part of central Thailand, very little English spoken and I was 16 years old. It wasn't until I returned as an adult that I understood many of my experiences. I had seen many things I was unable to process as a young person, even a young adult and it took me until I was much older that I could write about it. There were so many positives, don't get me wrong, including a life long relationship with my host family, who I still visit and, thanks to social media we communicate.
Fast forward some years and I gained a scholarship to study Korean Language and Culture at Yonsei University in Seoul. It was the winter in Seoul, in a tiny apartment, that I drafted The Thai Wife.
Career wise, it was hard for me to choose 'what I wanted to be' when I finished school. My entire family - my mum and 3 sisters, were all nurses and my dad a Pharmacist. So after various jobs after high school I decided, from lack of knowing what to do, to nurse. I married Phil, had two amazing children and we farmed and I nursed. We travelled a lot and then I completed a degree in Education. From there I worked in Community Health and led a settlement program funded by the Department of Home Affairs. This reignited my experiences in Thailand and led to that first draft in Seoul.
All my writing involves human displacement. I don't always plan it but it happens.
When I returned to Australia with a draft of TTW, it meant rewriting while working and many late nights at my desk. I had no idea how I was going to publish, even if I would publish and then I somehow stumbled across Jenny Mosher of Mosh Publishing. I went through various fazes and thoughts – should I try and find an agent, should I send my manuscript to publishers – it’s such a huge world full of authors and I am but one in thousands! Good or bad, I decided to self publish, a word I rarely use now because a book published is published no matter how. I have now met and admire many authors who have published however it has suited them and had great success. I have learnt that no matter which path an author takes, it is still a lot of work, dedication and confidence to put it out there.
The next book, The Ferns was a challenge. Writing a historical novel took me far from my comfort zone! It has again taken many rewrites, long days and nights to complete but I feel I’m getting better at it. The next manuscript sits waiting for the same. It’s a process with lots of people watching, talking over ideas, researching and Netflix! So, I say to anyone with a story, get writing! Write it all down, get it out then rewrite until you’re happy.
My husband and I now live by the coast, on the southern-most tip of mainland Australia. Our children and their families live close by. We burn fires, dodge mobs of kangaroos, protect wandering echidnas and swim in the icy waters of Bass Straight.
There isn't a day we don't feel fortunate.
As a teenager I spent 12 months in Thailand as an exchange student. It was in a remote part of central Thailand, very little English spoken and I was 16 years old. It wasn't until I returned as an adult that I understood many of my experiences. I had seen many things I was unable to process as a young person, even a young adult and it took me until I was much older that I could write about it. There were so many positives, don't get me wrong, including a life long relationship with my host family, who I still visit and, thanks to social media we communicate.
Fast forward some years and I gained a scholarship to study Korean Language and Culture at Yonsei University in Seoul. It was the winter in Seoul, in a tiny apartment, that I drafted The Thai Wife.
Career wise, it was hard for me to choose 'what I wanted to be' when I finished school. My entire family - my mum and 3 sisters, were all nurses and my dad a Pharmacist. So after various jobs after high school I decided, from lack of knowing what to do, to nurse. I married Phil, had two amazing children and we farmed and I nursed. We travelled a lot and then I completed a degree in Education. From there I worked in Community Health and led a settlement program funded by the Department of Home Affairs. This reignited my experiences in Thailand and led to that first draft in Seoul.
All my writing involves human displacement. I don't always plan it but it happens.
When I returned to Australia with a draft of TTW, it meant rewriting while working and many late nights at my desk. I had no idea how I was going to publish, even if I would publish and then I somehow stumbled across Jenny Mosher of Mosh Publishing. I went through various fazes and thoughts – should I try and find an agent, should I send my manuscript to publishers – it’s such a huge world full of authors and I am but one in thousands! Good or bad, I decided to self publish, a word I rarely use now because a book published is published no matter how. I have now met and admire many authors who have published however it has suited them and had great success. I have learnt that no matter which path an author takes, it is still a lot of work, dedication and confidence to put it out there.
The next book, The Ferns was a challenge. Writing a historical novel took me far from my comfort zone! It has again taken many rewrites, long days and nights to complete but I feel I’m getting better at it. The next manuscript sits waiting for the same. It’s a process with lots of people watching, talking over ideas, researching and Netflix! So, I say to anyone with a story, get writing! Write it all down, get it out then rewrite until you’re happy.
My husband and I now live by the coast, on the southern-most tip of mainland Australia. Our children and their families live close by. We burn fires, dodge mobs of kangaroos, protect wandering echidnas and swim in the icy waters of Bass Straight.
There isn't a day we don't feel fortunate.