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Coming Soon - January 2014
Well, now that The Billionaire Cowboy has been put to bed (wouldn't it be nice to join him!) I'm working on a new release. This one is a bit different and has a retro feel. It will be called Treasured Memories of a Disciplined Wife, and the premise involves Daisy, an old lady in hospital looking back on her life. Her treasured possession is an old photograph album, and each picture triggers a memory of her life with her beloved husband Frank. The narrative then takes the reader back into the past and we discover the stories associated with the various photographs. If you enjoy loving discipline, you'll like this title.


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What's Next?


What are you currently working on?

I'm close to completing the fourth book in the Love on a Ranch series. Set in Texas, these books deliver passion, excitement and adventure for the inhabitants of the Armstrong ranch. The cowboys on this ranch know just how to treat their women - sometimes with a little exciting spanking thrown in. Each book can be read independently of the others. The forthcoming title is The Billionaire Cowboy. It features Scott Armstrong (the hunky younger brother of Hank), and tells of his relationship with Carla Odell.

Scott is one of those rare breeds - a guy who has everything. He is handsome, intelligent, witty, charming, confident ... and filthy rich. But he is also generous and considerate, and unlike some Alpha males, totally without arrogance or pretention. He knows what he wants and he sets out to get it, but his plans to have a relationship with Carla are initially thwarted as she is infatuated with the obnoxious Lyle Westrom. However, Scott is a patient man. He knows some things are worth waiting for.

The story is set initially in Nye Beach, one of the finest vacation spots on the Oregon coast. This is where Carla lives lives and works. After a bad breakup with Lyle she needs some space and leaves for Texas, intending to seek out her great Aunt Hannah. Things don't go to plan, but Scott tracks her down and takes her to his home on the ranch. But nothing is ever straightforward - the devious Johnny Myers causes trouble, and then Carla's estranged mother makes contact with her only child after ten years ... we have cattle stampedes, cook-outs, horses, cowboys, sizzling romance, and much more...


How many books will there be in the Love on a Ranch series?

Six or seven are planned, including one with a historical as opposed to a contemporary setting - it will tell the story of the first Armstrong cowboy.


About Writing

Where do you get your ideas from?

There's no easy answer, but basically I have a vivid imagination, which helps enormously! Then there is life and human behaviour - I observe people reacting and interacting. That doesn't mean I put real people into my books as characters, but I do start with a seed of an idea for a particular character, and I start to build a profile to determine what they look like etc and how they will behave. After a while, during the course of writing the narrative, the characters really come to life. I guess I'm also influenced by movies, books, and people in general, but imagination is the key for me.

Do you do any research?

Yes - absolutely heaps! I want to get the facts right because I want my books to sound credible and convincing.


Do you plan and outline or adopt a more spontaneous approach?

I guess I take a hybrid approach. Basically, I really enjoy giving my imagination a free rein and I love the process of writing. I find with longer works, the  challenge is to hold back a little on some of the spontaneity and harness my thoughts into a defined structure, in order to produce something that pulls all the sub plots and various strands together into a coherent whole with no loose ends. With no plan or outline I would probably write myself into a corner and grind to a halt.

With short stories I'll start with an idea, or a word or a phrase, and turn it into something I'd like to read.

In the past I have used The Snowflake Method to help construct a novel, but if I turn to it again in the future I'll probably just use parts of it.


What are the main influences on your writing?

I was brought up to love books. When I was a child, my mother told me wonderful stories from books or out of her head, and as soon as I could read I was off to the library for more.

I've always loved folklore, which is probably why I enjoy the works of Juliette Marillier so much. She weaves magic I love to read. I have had a career in libraries and have been influenced by many different authors and approaches to writing.



What kind of books do you enjoy reading?

These days I'm afraid I get little time for recreational reading. I have George R R Martin's Game of Thrones lined up - I think the TV series is absolutely wonderful - so imaginative. I love some of the classic authors - Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy in particular, and I really enjoy Hardy's fabulous descriptive imagery. My favourite contemporary authors are Diana Gabaldon, Barbara Erskine, and Juliette Marillier, though for pure escapism I can't go wrong with a Wilbur Smith! I also like a lot of Young Adult books - by Susan Cooper, Alan Garner, Ursula LeGuin. There are just too many to mention!