About

A bit of background, set in Africa and other startling places

In brief, I was born and raised all over Central and Southern Africa, and am proud to be a Rhodesian. I knew from age 3 that I wanted to “make books”, and indeed the desire to write and publish came to fruition throughout my life in a variety of ways. I've fought in a bush war, skinny-dipped with hippos, camped amidst hyena, leopard and lion, hunted crocodile (yes, just one!), had mad adventures on (and off) film and television sets, had numerous brushes with death… and on the more ‘normal’ side, I have sat on boards for script writing associations, governmental regulating committees and Child Welfare; and dragged up two children and a husband (who all turned out amazingly well in spite of me). I’ve done youth and women's and music ministry, camped at the tops of mountains and bottoms of valleys, sailed in the Indian Ocean islands and along the east coast of Africa, ridden motorbikes across Southern Africa... And here I am now, over half a century behind me, and just as crazy about books and writing as I always was. I spent the first 25 years of my adult life doing a variety of production and facilities work in television and film, as well as hundreds of hours of script writing for TV, radio, film, video, multimedia and print; teaching, mentoring, developing new writers, giving workshops ... and then finally the dreams of that 3-year-old child came true, as for ten years I have run my own publishing company. At last, I was 'making books'! And now the time has come for me to share my wide experience with those who need help with their own writing and publishing projects, before submitting their work to agents, publishers, producers, etc. While doing traditional publishing I was frustrated that so many great manuscripts came across my desk but didn’t quite make it into our lists due to budgetary constraints. But helping and teaching others has always been a natural part of my life, and I have enormous enthusiasm for writers and their craft. So here we go - ‘call me, maybe’! Incidentally, my other passions include boats; I have sailed/boated on and off, from dinghies to kayaks and yachts and motored boats, on lakes and rivers and oceans, since I was 3 years old. I now co-own a narrowboat with my ex-husband, Andrew, currently on the Grand Union Canal. :)