I first started writing about twenty years ago when I wrote a significant amount of poetry. Unfortunately I didn't have much time to try my hand at writing a serious novel as my family and art career took a great deal of my energies

I grew up in the rural town of Nowra in New South Wales, Australia in the 1950's and 60's. Probably the biggest influences on me in growing up was the injustice of the racism displayed towards Aboriginal Australians and towards females. My best friends at high school were Aboriginal girls and I remember clearly not understanding why they were treated as though they were inferior by many people. This combined with the gender inequality towards women developed a strong sense of social justice in me that lives on to this day.

The norm for most young girls in those days was that there was no need for a good education because you would only get married and have a family and the money spent on the education would be wasted. That was certainly the case for me and I remember being devastated when my father told me I wouldn't be going on to finish high school. If there was a positive in this disappointment it was that it developed a life long quest in me to increase my knowledge and skills. After raising my own family I was nearly 50 before I finally achieved my life long dream of attending university.

I completed my degree in fine art with honours at Griffith University in Brisbane and was the founder of Impress Printmakers Studio Brisbane. I worked as an artist for many years and curated several high profile exhibitions. I have only recently started writing.

I would have to say sharing my knowledge and experiences with others. I believe it is a great shame that too many of us take our experiences and knowledge with us to the grave without sharing it with future generations.

I guess its a combination of things. The warmth of the sun when it's shining, the soothing effect of the rain when it's raining, my family, friends, my cat (who follows me everywhere) and my garden. Finally something creative, stimulating and or worthwhile.

The first story I ever read was 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe' by C.S Lewis as an eight year old. I remember being so enchanted and spellbound that I couldn't stop reading. I was so taken with the story that I went on and read the whole Narnia series. I think that was the start of my lifelong love of reading.

I have many favourite authors as I like to read widely but if I had to pick it would be Bryce Courtenay, Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemmingway, Kate Forsyth, Ruth Park, George Orwell and J. R Tolkein

My all time favourite book is 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee. The story portrays the innocence of childhood corrupted by the adult behaviours of racism, cruelty and hatred through the eyes of the child who narrates the story. Using the child as the narrator softens this otherwise depressing subject for the reader. I found myself unable to put the book down and was totally immersed in both the story and the characters. The themes are just as relevant today as they were in the period of the 1930's when the book was set. I think everyone should read this timeless story at some time in their life.
The next favourite book on my list is 'David Copperfield' by Charles Dickens. I love this book for the way Dickens weaves an intricate web of themes and characters together to deliver a story that touches all human emotions. If you can get past the difficulty of understanding some of the social etiquettes and language of Dickens's era, you can appreciate the skill with which this book has been written.
Third on my list is 'Jessica' by Bryce Courtenay. I love this book because it is a captivating true story based on historical facts. Courtney portrays Jessica's heartbreaking fight for justice against overwhelming odds with sensitivity and respect. He brings the characters and story to life and deposits the reader in rural Australia at the outbreak of World War 1, to the point that I found myself emotionally immersed in the story.
I am going to throw in a work of non fiction as my fourth favourite book with 'The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog' by Bruce Perry and Maia Szalavitz. I love this book for Its compassionate and honest insight into the world of child trauma. The book opened my eyes to a side of human behaviour that few of us experience first hand but all of society should know about.
My Fifth favourite book is 'The Wild Girl' by Kate Forsyth. A beautifully written love story based on the Grimm brothers quest to put together their book of children's stories during the Napoleonic Wars and Wilhelm Grimm's love for Dortchen Wild, the girl next door. Forsyth's research into the history of the story is evident and the reader is transported back in time to 19th Century Germany. Forsythe keeps the reader dangling in suspense as to whether Wilhelm and Dortchen will achieve their fairy tale ending.

Trivia Lovers Ultimate Reference is my first and latest book. My thirst for knowledge and my love of trivia inspired me to make this my first writing project. I decided to write a thoroughly researched book after realising that some trivia sources were not providing factual and properly researched answers. All too often I would attend my local trivia evening believing I had the right answers to questions, only to find my reference sources had provided inaccurate information or information based solely on urban myth.

I have spent two years researching, writing and formatting the book to give the reader a comprehensive and factual reference of trivia and general knowledge.

I believe I have the skills to research and write works that are worthy of being published. Writing is something I have always wanted to do but have found the idea of spending years writing a book that might not even see the light of day in a publishing house as daunting. It has only been in recent years with the development in technologies and the advent of self publishing that I have seriously decided to give it a go. I also do not have the financial resources to achieve my dream of being a writer any other way than as an indie author.

Coming from a fine art background I approach cover design the same as I would a work of art. The most important thing for me is to create an image that the reader can instantly identify with the subject I am writing about. After I have that image I then try to develop a cover that incorporates good design elements.

I have only just signed up for Smashwords so I can not speak to my success with Smashwords yet. What I would like to say is that I was highly impressed with Mark Coker's books and his video about his first book and how Smashwords developed out of that. I like his genuine honesty about the publishing industry and Smashwords encouragement of all new authors.