About the author
A very dear friend of mine once told me that one way to choose your artist name is by combining the name of your very first pet and the street that you lived in when you were born. As his cat was called Whiskers and his parents’ house was in Kingsford Road, he always signed his paintings with WK. Funnily enough, he kept most people guessing where those initials came from.
Have you figured it out already? Yes, I had a dog called Bella and I lived in Garden Close. Easy choice really, what name I have always wanted to use if I ever was to publish a book…
But back to the start, ever since I can remember I used to make up stories. Sometimes I got in trouble for it as a child, being so adamant that the animated tales I was telling were in fact the truth. Once I started school writing of any kind certainly was my favourite. At university I chose to study languages and literature. While I learnt about writers and their poetic endeavours throughout different cultures, languages and ages I also expanded my own creative potential. In between listening to lectures, researching for assignments and sitting exams I took on a job as a journalist at a radio station.
A few years later I had completed university I thought it’s now or never if I want to see the world. I packed my bags and took off on a trip that was going to take me around the world. Halfway around I got stuck in Australia, and almost a decade on I have made my home in Down Under. The tropical north of Queensland is where I made a home with my wonderful husband and two beautiful daughters.
Being a busy mum of two young children, writing had to be put on the back burner for too many years. Especially as I had to pursue a day job to pay the bills, there was simply neither time nor creative energy left to do what I love. When my little one got very sick two years ago, things changed again. Staring into the face of death hanging over your baby’s head made me realise what is really important in life. Writing is my passion, I have always known that. But what I have realised is that I have to fight to make my dream of being a fulltime author come true. Many hours, days, weeks, months, I spent by my daughter’s bedside in hospital as she fought a courageous battle with cancer. A little notebook kept my company, and whilst she rested her tired little body I once more found time to write. Funny, really, how going through something so awful at the same time gave me another chance at fulfilling my desires.
Two years on, my amazing little fighter has made it through the worst of it, and in between spending as much quality time with her as I can, I also choose to spend every available minute in my office where the many exciting stories that spin around in my head finally get put onto paper.