As a child I barely spoke. I had problems hearing, which thankfully I’ve grown out of, and so I had a terrible lisp when speaking. I was so embarrassed about it, that I barely spoke, afraid the other kids would try and trick me into saying ‘wabbit’.
Anna Snoekstra
I was the last in my class to learn to read. It was probably linked to my problems with hearing the words properly. I had such an amazing teacher that took me aside to give me one on one tutoring. This special teach led me to fall in love with reading and writing.
I’m a British/Australian duel citizen. My grandfather was a Dutch soldier during the Second World War and my Grandmother was a Welsh nurse. They met in England when it ended and fell in love. They lived there together for fifteen years before moving to Australia.
When I was fourteen I made my first short film. It was a musical about a school janitor who turns homicidal after some kids throw rocks at him. I played the janitor.
Novel writing came from screenwriting. I’m not sure if it was because of my experiences making The Janitor, but on leaving school I decided to pursue a career in filmmaking. I spent six years studying cinema and screenwriting.
For three months I worked as a giant robotic Christmas tree in the Christmas section of a department store. It was one of the best jobs I’ve ever had.
Four years ago I decided to give up on writing. I was working casual jobs to support myself and my screenwriting career was taking a long time to get off the ground. It was an unhappy time, and I thought that it was better to focus my energy on getting a full time job. The idea for what became my first novel, Only Daughter, niggled at me for months until eventually I relented and decided to give it one last crack.
Little Secrets started as a short story titled Dolls, which was written for a crime writing short story competition. The words just kept coming and coming.
This book was the first time I wrote from a male perspective. Ever. The book is told from the point of view of Rose, her friend Mia and a detective called Frank. I’d never written from a man’s perspective before. It turned out to be a lot of fun!
The lead up to a book coming out is absolutely terrifying, I thought it would be easier for the second, but this time around I feel just as consumed with the heady mixture of nerves, excitement and trepidation.
