The Terror of Prism Fading is my first children's fantasy novel and represents the beginning of a new career. When I finished high school in Australia at age 17, I intended to go into law, and actually accepted a position in a double law/bachelor of arts degree, majoring in law and psychology. This was, perhaps, the world's shortest foray into the legal profession as I decided more or less immediately that a career in law was not for me but, rather, that I was destined to work in the area of psychology. It took me some years to realize that my desire to explore the way people thought was not going to find its perfect match working as a psychologist either.

In school I had always loved to write. However being brought up in a supportive but fairly conservative kind of family, 'author' was not one of the careers suggested to me. Had I suggested it for myself, I'm sure it would have been accepted enthusiastically. My parents had a fairly unusual relationship for their time – my mother being 12 years older than my father. Their relationship was testament to my father's charm and my mother's strong mindedness, and it made for an interesting role model for a girl such as myself. Having only one sister and being sent to an all girls' high school, I was never taught to be limited by my own gender, and was encouraged instead to think outside the box, to know what I believed, and why I believed it. As such, had I wanted to be an author, I'm sure such a decision would have been supported. As it was, I remember laying on the bed chatting to my mother one morning about careers; we ran through a long list and she suggested everything to me from cooking demonstrator to politician! But nobody in my family knew anyone who was a full time writer and it never crossed our minds that this might be my perfect career.

But even so, for quite a long time I wrote all manner of stories in the back of class notebooks - diaries, fictional stories, streams of consciousness, poetry – all of it. Sadly, not once did any teacher notice a spark of creative force! Both artwork and storytelling were considered to be marginal skills, and I'll never forget in Year 8 my best girlfriend being called upon to read out her creative writing composition to the class, while I was significantly passed over. By the end of high school, I had decided that fictional writing was not my strength.

As I went through university, however, I discovered a talent for academia previously unsuspected by my high school teachers! And I had a love for literature and the arrangement of words that has beat strongly in my heart from then till now and which I'm sure will stay with me all my life. The arrangement of words to explain a point, to make a convincing argument, or to move somebody's heart or mind became a passion. And the use of words to form beauty, such as I read in all forms of literature, captivated me, perhaps never more so than when I spent some years studying theology. The language of the Old Testament in particular fueled a love affair with words that was never to abate.

I was married in my 20's to a man who worked primarily with numbers and strategic planning. By comparison, suddenly I was the creative one! This cast me in a light that allowed me to explore a side to myself previously ignored, and my work with children and in public speaking in my 30's helped me develop an ability to use the spoken word to engage listeners. Somewhere between high school and turning 40, I became a 'natural born' storyteller. Somewhere in there, I developed the courage to believe that my teachers - who never saw in me what I saw in myself - were wrong, and to believe in my ability to use the written word in my own way to tell the stories of my own choosing.

In my late 30's I studied in the area of dispute resolution, and spent some years contemplating the settling of conflict and the methods used to bring harmony. This, without fail, demanded the ability to sway the hearts and minds of those with whom I worked, and it, too, added to a body of experience that would lead me to writing.

At age 39, my husband and I decided to return to England where we had also lived in1996, and my lack of a work permit led to my wondering how to spend my time. I should be honest and admit that a great deal of time was spent shopping! But having toyed with the idea of Prism for many years, the images and story lines began to take a more concrete form, and on relocating to New York in 2003, I decided to tackle a rather ambitious project which was to become known in this household and to all my friends as 'The Terror of Prism Fading'. Due to some rather serious problems with my back in 2005 and a year spent largely lying on my tummy on my bed, I had a golden opportunity to crystallize my ideas and get words onto paper. Eighteen months later, The Terror of Prism Fading was finished.

But the process was not complete and, frankly, I doubt it ever will be. At this point in time, this inherently non technically-able woman is struggling with the concepts of self publishing, and terms such as e-books, site maps, html files, web masters, illustrators, pixels, uploads, and copyrights and agreements of all kinds. That I exist online at all is a testament to the love and support of a number of key people all much more clever at this sort of thing that I am or ever will be. God bless you Tim Pratt, David Imel, Wendy Morton and Deborah Manns!

And so here I am; an Australian living in New York via England, a psychologist turned author by way of mediation, a dreamer and a lover of words whose passion is using thoughts and ideas to touch, move, entertain and enthrall both children and adults alike. Perhaps the central message of Prism is also my story; with a stubborn commitment to a goal – no matter how seemingly impossible, the support of those around you, and a whole lot of faith and determination, anything is possible….