Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I was born in Cardiff, Wales and lived in Falmouth, Cornwall between the ages of 5 and 12, before I came to New Zealand, which is now undoubtedly my home. Coming from Wales and Cornwall has and always will influence my writing. I set my novel "The Cornish Knot" the first in The PastFinders series, in Cornwall and used the celtic knot as a motif throughout the story, which travels from Cornwall, to Florence and ends up in Auckland, New Zealand.
When did you first start writing?
I've loved words and language since I was a girl, but didn't consider writing a book until I was at university as a mature student at the turn of the century (As a genealogist I love being able to say that. Most people would think of the turn of 20th century with that phrase, but our generation lives through history too). I had a family story I considered needed a wider audience but I didn't want a dry and factual non-fiction book, I wanted to tell a story about a pioneering life and the birth of a nation. I used my academic and business writing skills as a basis and learnt new ones that would give life to a character and a time that should be remembered.
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