Happy anniversary to me!

June 1, 2023 at 6:55 am

It’s ten years today since my debut novel, The Heir (Verindon #1) was released. It’s been a hell of a ride, with more ups and downs than a roller coaster. I feel quite proud that I’ve managed to last this long as there are a lot of lows as well as some incredible highs in this life. I’d like to celebrate by offering free paperback copies of my trilogy. I have three full sets of the Verindon trilogy to give away, as well as seven additional copies of The Heir (Verindon #1). I am happy to send them anywhere in […]

Nearly 10 years

November 16, 2022 at 12:52 pm

Next year, it will be 10 years since I became a published author. Yes, it’s hard to believe that The Heir (Verindon #1) was published nearly 10 years ago. Wow, how time does fly! And it’s still selling. I made some good sales at Brisbane Supanova a couple of weeks ago. It’s good to see that The Verindon Trilogy still generates interest. I had a lot of fun at Brisbane Supanova with Adele Jones and Jeanette O’Hagan. It’s always heaps of fun to see what everyone’s wearing. I was also able to wear my new costume, which I had taken […]

New book next year!

October 30, 2019 at 9:47 am

Hooray! I’m happy to finally be able to announce that I have signed a new contract with Wombat Books and will have a new full-length novel released in the middle of next year! At the moment it’s called The Verindon Alliance. Being hopeless with book titles, I thank those at the Sci-Fi Roundtable on Facebook for helping me with it. The Verindon Alliance tells the story of Vashta and Brandonin. If you’ve read my trilogy, you may remember these names, as they’re referred to a few times in all three books. This new story is set several hundred years in […]

Illnesses and interruptions

August 5, 2018 at 2:48 pm

It’s been a while since I’ve had time to blog but I thought I’d better make time, especially now I’m getting back in the saddle, so to speak. In the middle of the celebrations for the fifth anniversary of The Heir’s release in June, I injured my hip to such an extent that I was hospitalised! Fortunately, the online marketing I’d planned was already organised, so it proceeded on its merry way while I convalesced. However, the hip problem had an unexpected snag that has proved difficult for someone who earns her living editing and tries to spend a good […]

The Heir’s fifth anniversary!

June 1, 2018 at 3:45 pm

Today’s the day. Exactly five years ago today, I became a published author with the release of The Heir (Verindon #1). I was full of hopes and dreams and even so, didn’t realise how fulfilling becoming an author would be, in spite of the hard slog it is at times. It’s been five years of ups and downs, of three more books released (two in the Verindon trilogy and one contemporary drama), of being sometimes elated and sometimes depressed by reviews. Of sitting at tables at bookstores and conventions trying to catch the eyes of passersby to see if they […]

Cosplay

March 21, 2018 at 4:09 pm

Do you know what cosplay is? That’s what you see if you go to conventions like ComicCon and Supanova, where the visitors dress up in all kinds of weird and wonderful gear that represents their favourite fandom. A lot of people look askance at cosplayers for the same reason, I think, they might look askance at a grown man buying a lego set, or a woman my age rummaging through the young adult books at the local bookstore. But that’s not going to stop me. 🙂 It doesn’t stop them, either, which makes me happy, as it’s amazing to see […]

Help me find a crown

February 27, 2018 at 4:56 pm

If everything goes well, Adele Jones, Jeanette O’Hagan and I will be attending Gold Coast Supanova in late April! 🙂 We had great fun when we went to ComicCon in September last year and enjoyed seeing everyone participating in cosplay and getting into the swing of it. We did our best to join in – I had a dress with stars on it (and a TARDIS) to lend a sci-fi theme to my costume, and I also wore my old wedding tiara to stand in for a crown, as is featured on the cover of book two in the Verindon […]

Winner 2017 Literary Classics Book Awards

July 1, 2017 at 7:40 pm

I have an award-winning book! On 1st July 2017 my latest novel, Once Confronted, won an award. 🙂 Once Confronted, my first contemporary drama, gained the Literary Classics silver award in their college fiction category. The Heir (Verindon #1) also won a silver award in the science fiction category in 2014. This brings my total number of writing awards to four. I also gained two Australasian Religious Press Association awards in my days working for The Queensland Baptist newspaper. It’s such a thrill to win any award. This one has especially delighted me, given that the story of Once Confronted […]

Telling Stories

May 27, 2017 at 12:20 pm

I think I was born to be a story-teller. All my life I’ve loved story-telling in all its forms. The story can be mine or it can be someone else’s. It doesn’t matter. The enjoyment is in the telling. 🙂 It’s interesting as I look back on my life, as I can see how all the things I’ve learned along the way have helped me with my desire to be a story-teller. After all, if you want to be an author these days it’s not enough just to be able to tell stories, you also have to be a marketer […]

The fear that never leaves

February 25, 2017 at 8:41 am

You’d think that after six years, I’d be over it. I first submitted The Heir to Wombat Books in 2011. I was terrified of rejection and worried they would say the book was crap. Fortunately, they didn’t, although it still needed a lot of work, which we gave it until its ultimate release in 2013. Yet here I am, about to submit my latest manuscript to my publisher, and I’m terrified of what they’re going to say. I worked on Raydon’s Muse for most of last year and managed to finish it in December. Since then, I have been going […]