It's a little awkward trying to package myself into a few paragraphs. Life has taken more twists and turns than the lines of a squiggly gum, and to list them appears droll. But, as you've kindly taken some interest in my writing, it would be impolite not to present some version of my character.

 

I'll do you a favour and skip things like 'the time I spent six weeks in a call centre selling Dad's Army VHS boxsets'. They were surprisingly popular. Perhaps you would be amused to know I won a national rap song writing competition — that's somewhat relevant. It was the 90s, and that pretty much explains it. Unfortunately, I had to record the song and Barry Bissell played it on Take 40 Australia. The cassette has been disintegrating in a shoebox ever since.

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My first job after uni (I have a BA European Studies and an MA International Communications from Macquarie University) was for the Communists in China. I was a sub-editor and columnist at an English-language newspaper. Before you get any ideas, I later worked at the nonpartisan Australian Associated Press and then a conservative newspaper in Canada called National Post, just to even the score.

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I studied art, history, literature and communications, worked in radio and naturally became an economics reporter. To my horror, it was fascinating. But, itchy feet must keep moving, so with a small tent to call home, I started freelancing while mountain biking from Canada to Mexico, pausing to get married in Vegas. Later, my husband and I cycled 10,000km around Australia.

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Eventually, we stopped, and a little house in the foothills of Victoria's Alps beckoned. So I moved from Sydney and, not inspired by my options as a journalist, began working for the local government marketing a snow village. Next, I ran a mountain bike park, because, really — who gets to do that. But two exhaustingly lovable kids soon entered my life and changed everything. 

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I now enjoy the flexibility of working for myself, writing the odd essay or article, taking on the occasional copywriting client, and publishing Mind Flexing. If you haven't already, jump on that page to find out what that's all about. I'm also beginning an exciting piece of non-fiction, but that's a story for future days.