I love the editing part of writing.
The Scandal
Crazy, I know, because the editing process can be long. Months of structural edits, copy edits, line edits, final edits, working on the same story over and over until you never want to see it again. But once I’ve written the story I feel like the hard part is done so edits are a way to tighten and clarify and polish. Receiving that first structural edit from my agent or editor is always daunting but once I dive back into the story I’m hooked on the editing process all over again.
I crave the perfect title
I’ve written 70 books and for every one of those I had to have the perfect title before I started writing. It’s a quirk of mine. It doesn’t matter that publishers changed most of those titles before the books hit the shelves but coming up with my perfect title to encapsulate a story before I put words on a page is vital for my creativity.
I’m fanatical about my football team.
I’ve been a huge Aussie Rules footy fan since I was a kid and am particularly enamoured with my team, the North Melbourne Kangaroos. I never miss a game and if we have a hard-fought win, I’ll watch the replay and every football talk show there is to hear them mentioned. Over the years I’ve sold memberships for the Kangas outside football grounds, dished out pies from a van, volunteered in the medical department during my physiotherapy student days and travelled interstate many times to watch them. See? Fanatical!
I love to boogie.
If there’s music and a dance floor, I’m there, usually the first one to bust a few moves. And yeah, I know how to do all the old daggy stuff too, like the Nut-bush, Bus Stop, Time Warp and Macarena.
I’m a foodie.
If you check out my Instagram page, there are a LOT of food pics. I love everything about food: the taste, the texture, the aroma, the variety. And I particularly love ‘pretty’ food. It tastes better!
Home is my happy place.
While I love socialising and travelling, I’m happiest when I’m home with my family, just chilling. Splashing in the pool with the kids on warm summer nights, curled up on the couch with them watching Masterchef during winter evenings, playing board games or chatting, home is where my heart is.
I wanted to be a journalist.
I always loved writing at school and thought journalism would be a great career, until I did work experience at sixteen in a rehabilitation centre for the elderly, in the physiotherapy department. I didn’t know much about the job at the time but I had fun and thought I might get to work on a lot of footballers once I graduated so I chose that as my career. After four long years at uni, and working thirteen years as a physiotherapist, I finally returned to my first love, writing. I was lucky enough to be published quite quickly after I started writing and I’m thrilled that I get paid to do my dream job these days.
If something is hyped, I’ll take my own sweet time getting around to it.
This applies to TV shows, movies and books. If it’s incredibly hyped, I wait until the furore dies down and then watch/read it to form my own opinion. I did this with Sex and the City, Friends and Seinfeld (which I’ve watched countless times repeatedly since) and books like Twilight and Gone Girl. It’s a little perverse but if there’s hoopla, I’d rather wait.
I wish I could sing.
I would love to be on stage, front and centre, belting out a tune. Which kind of explains how I ended up miming and doing a dance routine in front of hundreds of people on a cruise ship once. And yes, there is video evidence. Thankfully, VCRs aren’t in use any longer.
I’m a city girl.
While I love the quaintness of the country (I loved the Cotsworlds and travelling through tiny towns in France, Germany, Austria and Italy, not to mention the great small Aussie towns which have inspired some of my books), I’m a city girl at heart. I love a hip, cosmopolitan vibe, with everything on my doorstep. An inner city apartment with a fabulous view of lights would be a great retirement for me.