I'm a fantasy and dystopian YA author, vlogger and writing teacher. I live in the Middle of Nowhere, Australia, with my partner, my three kids, a dog called Calli (short for Calliope, you know, the greek muse...), an army of kangaroos, flocks of birds and Lily the blue tongue lizard. I have a boringly traditional writer's background, being one of those annoying people who has always known what they wanted to do with their lives. As a child I often wrote short stories for my family, and by seven years old I had decided to be a writer and illustrator when I grew up (and told everyone who would listen to me).  My first introduction to fantasy came in high school with David Edding’s Belgariad, and it reignited the passion for writing that teenageryness (totes a word) and school work had worn down. For the next seven years I laboured over numerous novels to the exclusion of everything else. An attempt at completing a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Geology, fell through when, having written while walking to the train, spent the train ride writing, and not taken a single note in lectures due to writing, I realised that further education was a waste of time. Now writing is my purpose. It isn't the only thing that makes me happy, but not working makes me miserable. Don't get between a woman and her words...