My love for reading and writing stems from my mother, who encouraged me at an early age. Besides weekly trips to the local book exchange, my mum cut pictures from old magazines and stuck them in an exercise book, as prompts, and had me write about them daily. My parents divorced when I was still very young and this was my mother's way, as a single mum, of keeping me occupied while she was away at work.

I continued to write whenever I could over the years, but never considered it anything more than a hobby and a means of catharsis, until I met one of my former English teachers at a reunion, who posed the question: 'Why aren't you writing? YOU should be writing!". When I responded that I had in fact been writing, my teacher asked again: 'Then why aren't you publishing?!"

That was the initial catalyst, but I didn't pay too much heed until life, yet again, threw several bricks at me in quick succession, threatening and shaking every foundation I held dear, until I was practically cornered into publishing Lost in a Quatrain - a select collection of deep, soul stirring poetry, written over a period of 18 years, with each poem telling a story that pieces together the puzzle of this crazy, not always romantic, experience we call life...

At the time when Lost in a Quatrain was being 'birthed', the 40th anniversary dinner of my alma mater was being planned. I thought that it would be a wonderful way to honour the school, that gave me the added grounding and education that equipped me to come this far, by having the launch coincide with the dinner. But when I approached the local mainstream publishers, they all said that there was no way that the book could be produced on time - in fact, they said it would take at least a year! That's when I decided to self publish, and yes, the launch coincided with the dinner:)

Having the capacity to touch the heart of another being with my words.

When I published Lost in a Quatrain, I sent it out into the universe with a silent prayer that it reaches the hearts meant to read it. The very first person to buy my book on Amazon (he didn't know that he was the first person, but I did since there was only one sale reflected at the time) contacted me via Facebook to tell me that he loved the book and it had touched his heart. He also said that it had inspired him to start writing again. Him reaching out like that, from across the world, was just priceless... and a clear answer to that prayer... and that's how I view every single precious person who's moved by my writing ...

I design the cover to reflect elements from the poetry/story that lies within the pages of the book... sometimes, even before completing a project, I already have an idea about how I want the cover to look... Perks of being an indie author is that you have full control and the final say over your creative work.

I don't have a set genre. I will read anything that captures my interest

At this very moment, it's my kitchen table:)

A second collection of poetry as well as a collection of short stories.

Smashwords has widened the distribution of my book and given me a platform to increase my visibility, for which I am grateful, thank you.