Biography | < Back

I live in the tropics and it's too hot to be energetic after about 7 a.m., so my day starts with something active. I'm up before 6 a.m. heading to the gym, to yoga or for a walk along Townsville's beautiful Strand.

My world is quite lovely at this time of the day. Our home is an inner city apartment on the bank of a creek and I wake to views of jabirus and herons fishing in the water below or rowers training in outrigger canoes. Beyond that are the green, leafy suburbs of South Townsville and the sun rising over Cleveland Bay. Further in the distance I can see Mt. Elliot and Cape Cleveland jutting out into the Coral Sea.

After exercise and breakfast (fresh pawpaw bought in the local markets) my husband and son leave for work and university and I have the luxury of the apartment all to myself. That's when I should launch immediately into my day's writing but invariably I get sidetracked by e-mails . The problem is so much exciting stuff has been happening in the rest of the world while I've been asleep and I can't resist logging on to catch up on the latest goss.

After that I start writing. I usually reread what I've written the day before to get back into the mood of my story and I might spend half an hour or so rewriting and editing that before I push on with the next section. Occasionally I write with music playing, but I love music so much that it can be distracting, I want to give my attention to listening, so mostly I work locked away in my own quiet world peopled by my characters. I often have photos from magazines that are relevant to my current story propped up around me for inspiration.

Most days I dash out at some stage to the shops, library or post office, but it's all within a very short walking distance and gives me a chance to have a bit of a stretch after sitting for long periods. I seem to be always posting books to family and friends. Sometimes I might be packaging up a competition prize, for example, I recently sent off a toy koala and a book to a reader in Long Island USA. I also drop Greek, Italian and Spanish translations of my books down at the local migrant resource centre.

Usually I don't stop work until my husband comes home at somewhere between 5.30 and 6 p.m. Then we often sit out on our balcony and watch huge swirls of brilliantly coloured rainbow lorrikeets come into roost in trees in the park below us and in the nearby mall. Often we enjoy a glass of red wine and chat about how the day's events and how the story's going. Elliot is a wonderful sounding board and talking with him always helps me to clarify my ideas.

We both enjoy cooking and share up that responsibility, but if we want a break, we can be across the bridge and in Townsville's south bank restaurant strip in no time. We also love movies and again the cinema is within walking distance.

I often make long distance phone calls in the evening as our two daughters and my mother all live in Brisbane - two days' drive from here. As my eldest daughter is also my web mistress, we may have business to discuss as well as family matters. Any spare time is spent reading. This is a habit I started when I was very young. I can't imagine a day without some time to read.