When did you start writing?

When I was in primary school I won a children's short story competition for a national magazine. The day I opened that magazine and found my words in print is still etched in my brain. It was my first taste of success.

Did you continue with your writing after that?

Not immediately. The older I became the busier life seemed to become and writing took a back seat. Gone but not forgotten. Secondary and tertiary schooling became my prime focus. After that all my energies went into pursuing a business career.

What prompted you to start writing again?

The catalyst was my looming fortieth birthday. I decided then that if I didn't follow my dream, I would never do it. It was the best decision I ever made. With a wealth of life experiences behind me, I feel I am a much better writer now than I could have ever been in my twenties or even thirties.
 

How did you get started?

First I read every how-to book on writing that I could lay my hands on. Some of the advice conflicted but at least the authors all agreed on one thing: there is no single approach. That's not to say I didn't benefit from studying all those books. I learnt a great deal about elements of writing I had never really considered.

After the theory came the practice. I concentrated on short stories for a time but found the criteria magazines placed on contributors restrictive. Although from the way I danced in the supermarket aisle the day I opened a women's magazine and found that one of my short-short stories had been published you would have thought I had just been awarded the Booker Prize.

But I really wanted to get my teeth into something meatier than short stories. And I did. My first novel, Provoked, was hard work but so unbelievably satisfying. At the end of the day, I had something to show for my efforts, something to share with others. You just don't get the same buzz working as an accountant.
 

So writing a novel is not as easy as you expected?

Not at all. I think that most people think that writing a novel is just that: sitting down and writing a novel. But there are plot lines to tie up, time lines to control, characters to build and inconsistencies to avoid. You don't want Joe's blue eyes to suddenly change to green halfway through the book. Then there's the research. I spend a great deal of time just researching and checking my facts. For me, writing has also been educational. Every day I learn something new.
 

What advice would you give to someone just starting out?

Read the how-to books and take out of them what you need. Write a book you would enjoy reading. But more importantly, read and read and read! I can't stress that enough. You can't expect to be a writer if you're not a reader.
 

How many books have you read?

Reading is one of my great joys in life. I'm a voracious reader. If the book I'm reading is exceptionally gripping, I'll finish it in one sitting. I've probably read somewhere in the vicinity of 5,000 or more books in my lifetime.
 

What are the other great joys in your life?

My man, my dog, friends and family, and life itself. As clichéd as it is, one of my favourite sayings is, “Today is the first day of the rest of our lives.” How true is that?

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