I love the Collingwood football team, New York, Las Vegas, Italy top to toe,
my fox terrier Squiffy,
but I'm still on the fence about my hubby's two black-headed pythons, Mary
and Frederick.
I also love "The West Wing", stationery, M&Ms, thunderstorms, cold coffee,
the colour red, Jack Vettriano, the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, US presidential
elections, steak dinners, the Yankees, mushy movies, Brown Brothers wine,
Ugh boots, "The Little Mermaid", velvet jackets, citrus scents, tart tastes,
gardenias, dancing with my eyes closed, bubble baths, muscat grapes, getting
paid to write books, and most of all gooing and gahing at my beautiful
baby girl.
Then there's my
love of...
BOOKS
'Catch
22’
by
Joseph Heller
(wittiest, most
clever, twisty, turny shocking, fantastic writing on the planet)
‘The
Prince in Waiting’
Trilogy by John Christopher
(the writer who first gave me a love
of reading - an out of print young adult gem)
‘The
Princess Bride’
by
William Goldman
(glorious, sweet, heavenly, hilarious,
tongue in cheek)
‘Ice
Station’
by
Matthew Reilly
(you will not be able to stop turning the pages!)
'HMS
ULYSSES’
by
Alistair
Maclean
(My Mum's favourite book - a real
gut-wrencher - I could barely read the last three chapters through the tears)
All
of the Stephanie Plum
books by Janet Evanovich
(Joe Morelli, Grandma Mazur, all those
destroyed cars, out of control hair, and the best cliff hanger ending to a book
ever!)
All of the Harry Potter
books
by J K Rowling
(look past the hype, look past the rags to riches
story, and look to the language, especially of the early books - a pure
delight)
With these guys I know I will never go wrong...
Dick
Francis
LaVyrle
Spencer
Jodi Piccoult
TV SHOWS
Tour of Duty
The West Wing
Sex and the City
Shameless
The Sopranos
Arrested Development
MOVIES
The
Godfather Trilogy
(from the first moment
I laid eyes on the lot of them I was determined to marry an Italian!)
Notting
Hill
(the ending is my version of heaven)
The
Little Mermaid (What a heroine! And what a hero!!!)
Aliens
(nothing like the others, but its my very, very fave!!!)
Field of Dreams
(you can't beat a bit of magic in the air, the
soundtrack gives me goosebumps)
Pride
and Prejudice (No
explanation required, I'm sure...)
Dirty Dancing, When Harry Met Sally, Funny Girl, The Way We Were,
La
Femme Nikita, Cyrano de Bergerac
(nothing like a weepie romance!)
MOVIE LINES
"You're gonna need a bigger boat."
Jaws
"I have to return some video tapes."
American Psycho
"What
do they think I am, dumb or something? Why I make more money than
Calvin Coolidge put together."
Singin' in the Rain
"Nobody’s
perfect."
Some Like It Hot
"Excuse
me while I whip this out."
Blazing Saddles
"Do you
know what's wrong with you?"
"No, what?"
"Nothing."
Charade
for more great
movie lines check out the recent top 100 American movie lines as judged by the
America Film
Institute...
How and why did you start
writing?
The
short answer is because my folks gave me pretty coloured crayons and taught
me the alphabet, and the long answer has more to do with butterflies flapping
their wings...
Thanks
to Mr McBurnie, my grade 7 teacher, who introduced me to the wonderful
books of John Christopher. Thanks to a childhood adulation of actor
Christian Bale that made me see Henry V. And then to Kenneth
Branagh and his mate William S, without whom I would not have gone on to
achieve a double English major at University. It’s so true that the
smallest of decisions can make our lives twist and turn more dramatically
than we know at the time.
How long does it take you to write a
book?
Between
a month and forever...
Where do you find ideas for your
stories?
Ideas
are the easy part – it’s finishing the damn book that takes the work!
I am a flimmer. I start with a title (first thing that comes to me
99% of the time) then a couple of characters and then a fresh word file.
And off I go.
I
think of it like my chocolate cake recipe. I make the cake first
in a rush. I know the basic ingredients of my particular cake and
mix them together in whatever order comes to hand. Then once cooked
I put it in the fridge for a while before adding the layers of icing; the
layers of story and back story and bits and bobs that I only later learn
about the characters and their journey. So the cake is edible without
the icing but it is so much richer and yummier and infinitely more digestible
with icing.
I
think you also have to be super aware of your surroundings. Be prepared to
write down any tiny idea you have. Listen in on conversations.
Really listen to song lyrics which are often romance novels pared down as small
as one can go. Travel!
I particularly love
New York
(a new world around every corner, noisy, energetic, glorious, beautiful, messy,
overwhelming - I have to be dragged away kicking and screaming every time I go)
and
Italy
(Check out this gorgeous scene from Bellagio on
Lake Como. Heaven on earth! Think of a snug elegant hotel on a a
lake, surrounded by snow covered mountains.) Take your inspiration
wherever you can get it.
Check out my writing hints page:
Inspiration Is All Around! for ideas
on how to harness your ideas...
How long did it take for you to
get published?
To
get my first book published, from the moment I began writing it to the
day I received that most gorgeous of phone calls - just on 2 years.
When
I first decided to write a book it had to be a romance for Mills
and Boon without a doubt! I had read them since I was a kid, slithering
beneath my grandmother's bed to pull out a shopping bag full on every visit.
I
joined the Romance Writers of Australia and under their guidance
and with the support of friends, family and the Project Muse gang (a bunch
who gave and still do give much needed back slaps and kicks in the pants)
and a few recommended 'How to' books here I am!!!
