I was born in Vancouver, Canada, and spent an idyllic childhood on a rural property near the ocean. Much of my free time in those early years was spent on horseback or perched in trees, dreaming the hours away. There was no library near by but my mother, an avid reader, would take me to the bookmobile and every week I staggered out with an armload of books.

When I was eight or nine I decided I wanted to be a writer, filling countless scribblers with stories, poems and cartoons. (Where are those scribblers now, I often wonder?) Despite those early dreams I became interested in the environmental movement and went on to study science in university. I took a couple of years out to travel, first backpacking around Europe then on a sailboat through the south Pacific, but eventually I earned a Masters degree in marine biology. I worked for about ten years as an environmental biologist both in Australia and Canada in government, university and private consulting.

When I met my husband we were just good friends, renting rooms in a communal house in Vancouver, and lamenting the dearth of romantic prospects. Then we went travelling, simultaneously but separately, I to Nepal and he throughout Asia. Our subconscious minds must have been slowly working out what we meant to each other because when we got home we took one look and thought, "Wow, where have you been all my life?" We were married in December, in a blizzard, and not long after migrated to the sunny shores of Australia.

I loved my work as a biologist, whether I was breaking through the sea ice to scuba dive in Atlantic Canada or being bitten to a swollen pulp by black flies in northern British Columbia while studying wild salmon populations. I won't even mention the agonies of terror I suffered at the thought of encountering poisonous snakes while monitoring rivers and streams in Australia. (I never did see one but I know they were out there.)

But it wasn't until I rediscovered writing and romance writing in particular, that I realized the difference between a career and a calling. My first manuscript I wrote longhand in a spiral notebook through nine months of morning sickness (yes, nine months) with a hyperactive toddler at my feet. No matter how great the obstacles, I never doubted the effort was worth it, or that someday I would be published. Seven years and seven complete manuscripts later I got that magical call from an editor saying she wanted to buy my book.

Now my children are all in school and I write fulltime. Unless I'm close to a deadline, I try to keep evenings and weekends free for my family. My other interests include cooking, swimming, reading, walking and people-watching. I believe you have to experience life in order to write about it, so I take every opportunity to travel and meet people. My philosophy of life is simple (it's also not original but that doesn't matter) —Love Makes The World Go Around.