We love YA

ABOUT ME
I live a very civilised life in Australia with my musician husband and loving cats. Like many writers, I have a day job. I’m not just saying this because the boss might read my bio: I actually enjoy TV captioning for the deaf and hearing impaired. I also write and record audio description scripts for the benefit of the blind. You’ll soon hear my voice on selected DVDs. For more about moi, you can check out my website, or find me on MySpace and Twitter. And of course, I’ll be here at We Love YA every Friday.

ABOUT MY BOOKS
I’ve completed five novels. The first one, a contemporary adult romance, was a total disaster and will never be allowed out of my hard drive ever again. (That’s partially why I’m gripping my laptop so hard in the photo below.) However, a good thing came out of that exercise. When I wrote a flashback scene about the heroine’s high school days, I realised how natural it felt to transport my brain back a decade to my teen years (Oh, yeah, really, it was only a decade ago) and recapture those angsty feelings. The writing just flowed in that scene.

As soon as I finished what I shall now dub TOTAL DISASTER, I started on my first paranormal YA, CALL ME CRAZY, in 2004 or 2005. In this book, sixteen-year-old Lizzie discovers her witch of a stepmother really is a witch. This thing has since been rewritten a billion times and the pain has been worth it – CMC received a nomination in Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Golden Heart Award® for best unpublished YA manuscript.

My next YA was about a girl genius with an HIV-positive mother. After that came GIVING UP THE GHOSTS, which was the book that hooked my agent.

I’ve just finished a YA that deals with autism from a boy’s point of view. Now I’m plotting a novel about a secret band of superhero cheerleaders who are employed to protect the US President’s teenage son.

Maybe some day, one or all of those books will be published – with the exception of TOTAL DISASTER. Keep your fingers crossed for me!