about me

My Rye-ting Life ...

Reading and writing have been my thing for as long as I can remember. I've never had a sporting bone in my entire body and was always hopeless with anything that even smelt like maths or science. My eyes glaze over when the stock market report comes on toward end of the news, but strangely focus again when they get to the weather.

So it was probably quite a happy accident that I found such a passion for books and literature! 

My life has been a series of ups 'n downs but a certain little fella has stuck with me through the entire ordeal. I know its corny (and a trifle uncool) but my husband Ian and I really are the best of friends and have been for over thirty years. Together we have produced three of the most incredibly talented, amazing young adults. We're still not sure how that happened...

Anyway, here we are celebrating his 21st birthday many, many moons ago. We don't actually look that cute anymore (and what was I thinking with that ridiculous perm?) but we're still smiling-most of the time.

My kids say I could read or write through a natural disaster, then afterwards look up to say, 'where is everyone?' but it wasn't until a few years ago after having raised the little darlings and adding some rather juicy life experiences (along with a few extra kilos) that I seriously started to consider completing some of my long term writing goals.

So, without further ado - here goes nothing...I'm currently writing my first novel. It's about the mysterious disappearance of a young boy that slowly unravels the tightly held secrets of several generations in a small coastal town. As I live in a seaside holiday village, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to see where my inspiration for the setting comes from and it is true that we do have some legendary, powerful families living in our midst and yeah, we probably have had our fair share of criminal activity in the local area but the rest of the storyline is purely fictional. Of course.

I've always been a listener and had notebooks filled with observations, quotes and snatches of other people's conversations. Most of my friends and family thought it quite odd - perhaps even rude? It's certainly not uncommon for me to spend the entire meal at a cafe focussing on the conversations and activities around me rather than my dining companions. I'd never met anyone else with this rather nasty habit until I happily discovered its all part and parcel of a writers life. So, now I have a legitimate reason for always listening in and scribbling odd jottings, and they've proved more than useful in creating some of my short stories.

In the meantime, I've also written biographies for cancer patients and have really enjoyed the whole process.  Most people faced with an end date have something they need to say or a message they'd like to leave for the next generation. It has been humbling, enlightening and well worth the effort to peel away the layers of their lives to get to that point. I’ve also volunteered with the Cancer Connect Team to help families, partners and friends deal with the consequences of living with cancer and have recently been supporting several small charities such as The Toothbrush Project, Room to Read, St Mary's House of Welcome and Buk Bilong Pikinini that I believe are making a difference to communities in need around the world. 

Oh, and still hope to finish that novel...