About Me
I share my life in North Queensland with my family and various forms of orphaned
wildlife searching for remote camping spots or gardening.

Always on the lookout for new characters and settings, I spent years waiting tables,
working in nursing homes, bar tending, picking strawberries and punching keys on
various tills. I also spent over ten years working in various capacities with children
with special needs. I am now a freelance writer, manuscript assessor and writing
tutor for Cengage Education.

I'm a twenty- plus (enough information) year resident of both the USA and
Australia which puts me in the unique position of being familiar with the cultural
and language differences between these countries. This allows me to Americanize
and Anglicise writing with ease.
Contact
Employment
2007-present        Writing Tutor for Cengage Education
2004-present        Assistant Fiction Editor of Moondance.com
2000-present        Creative writing staff of www.storydog.com
1994-present        Freelance author

Education
2004-present       Diploma of Professional Editing and Proofreading,
Australian College of Journalism
2000-2001             Diploma of Professional Children’s writing,
Australian College of Journalism
1977-1982             Bachelor of Arts Degree, Psychology,
Ithaca College, New York.   
Memberships
  •        Australian Society of Editors
  •        Australian Society Authors
  •        Career Booster Program
  •        Children’s Book Insider
  •        Queensland Writer’s Centre
  •        Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
Published work
  •       Don't, Picture Book, Soto Publishing March 2011
  •       120 short stories (second grade) for Innovations for Learning, a Chicago-       
    based educational program 2009
  •        Human Made Disasters, Educational non-fiction, Acer Press 2008        
  •      Who Am I, Educational non-fiction, Blake Education, 2008
  •      Relationships, Educational non-fiction, Blake Education, 2008
  •      Body image,  Educational non-fiction, Blake Education, 2008
  •      The Kidnapping, Chapter Book, Insight Publications, October 2006
  •      The Cyclops, short story, Highlights for Children, July 2006
  •      Crash, Chapter Book, Blake Education, 2005
- Version 2: (EFL) English as a Foreign Language Series, Underwood   
Consulting and Publishing
  •      Staying Alive, Chapter Book, Blake Education, 2005
- Version 2: (EFL) English as a Foreign Language Series, Underwood   
Consulting and Publishing
  •      Goodbye, Chapter Book, Blake Education, 2005
- Version 2: (EFL) English as a Foreign Language Series, Underwood   
Consulting and Publishing
  •      The Contract, chapter book, Trekker Series, Macmillan Education
Australia Pty Ltd 2005
  •       Pea Mountain, humorous short story, KidTime Magazine, June 2005
  •      Sit Quietly, humorous short story, Highlights for Children (Purchased)
  •      The Cyclops, short story, Highlights for Children (Purchased)
  •      Maggie Only Eats ‘O’s, short story Highlights for Children (Purchased
  •      The Wake Up Call, non-fiction, Reader’s Digest, October 2004
  •      Long Leg Gloption, chapter book, Loranda Publishing, August 2004
  •      My Mom Hates to Cook, humorous short story, Highlights for Children,    
October 2003
  •      Please Listen, picture book / early reader, Cambridge University Press,  
May 2002
  •      The Hiccups, short story, Wizard Books, Ziptales, June 2003
  •      Monthly column, Write at Home at www.writing4successclub.com
  •      Articles for:
o   Australian College of Journalism
o   The Career Booster Program
o   The Early Childhood Newsletter
o   Writing 4 Success
o   Various websites
Awards
2010 Allen & Unwin and Queensland Writer's Center Manuscript Development
Program for middle-grade novel, The Art of Magic
2009 CYA Children and Young Adult Writing Competition: First Place in
middle-grade novel category for Making it Count
2006 Smartwriters WIN Competition: First Place in Chapter Book Category for
From the Diary of Jarrod Crisp
2005 Smartwriters WIN Competition: Honourable Mention in YA category for Nioka