More About Me

I began my writing career working with Continuum Publishers (now Bloomsbury Press) over seventeen years ago. My first published books were nonfiction guides for professional educators, and were translated and sold worldwide. I later moved on to working as a technical editor, making updates and revisions for the “… for Dummies” range of books with John Wiley & Sons.   

After taking a ten-year hiatus to raise and home-tutor my two children, I returned to writing in 2017, focusing on speculative fiction. In 2019, I was shortlisted for a Sir Julius Vogel Award (recognising excellence in science fiction, fantasy, or horror works created by New Zealanders) for my debut collection, Dark Winds Over Wellington

Since then I have published two award-nominated short-story collections, an award-nominated charity anthology, a military-horror creature-feature novella, two poetry books, and over fifty short stories, essays and poems. I’ve been keeping busy!

Now, I’d like to give something back to the writing community by offering my skills to other writers working at any stage in their career. 

My Credentials

As well as being a fully qualified teacher of secondary English, I have over seventeen years’ experience of editing, teaching and writing. I hold a Batchelor of Arts with Honours in English Language, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from Durham University. I understand what it takes to make your writing really shine, and I have excellent real-world experience of writing and editing for a wide range of audiences and clients.

I am also an award-winning writer and a finalist for several awards:

Winner: 

  • Australian Shadows Award (2020) Nonfiction—“An Exploration of Menstruation in Horror and Dark Fiction” 
  • Sir Julius Vogel Award (2021) Nonfiction — “What You Need Right Now is a Nice Soothing Horror Story”

Finalist: 

  • Australian Shadows Award (2021) Collected Work—SEEDS (self-published & edited)
  • Sir Julius Vogel Award (2021) Collected Work—SEEDS 
  • Ladies of Horror Fiction Awards (2021) Collected Work—SEEDS
  • Australian Shadows Award (2020) Edited Works—BLACK DOGS, BLACK TALES (Things in the Well Press)
  • Sir Julius Vogel Award (2019) Collected Work—Dark Winds Over Wellington (self-published and edited)

Want to know more?

What types of editing do I do?