About

A Bit About Me I was born in Jakarta, Indonesia in the early hours of 11 May, 1980, of Chinese heritage. I grew up in this third-world, turbulent country until I was 15, before my parents decided to migrate to Australia due to the rising political unrest between native Indonesians and Chinese Indonesians, not only in capital city, but other parts of Indonesia. Looking back on it, I have had a tendency to write from a very early age. I have kept a journal since primary school, and have secretly squealed when teachers asked the class to write a paragraph/page recounting our holidays (or any other topic, really…). Though this love somewhat diminished when I was faced with writing x-thousand word essays on much ‘duller’ topics whilst completing my Bachelor of Business (Communication) degree, it has instilled in me the importance of research, and this is something I have done on a regular basis in writing certain aspects of my novel. In late 2006, I decided to pick up a pen and paper to write down a vivid dream that wouldn’t leave my head (yes, you read that right – my novel-writing debut started with a dream!). I remembered the day well – it was Wednesday, and I couldn’t put my pen down except to do the essentials like eating and drinking and sleeping and… oh, yes, going to my full-time work as a Project Support Officer in an education-based company. By Saturday evening, I have written in excess of 15,000 words – by far the longest essay I have voluntarily written. From then on, pen(s) and paper have become some of the permanent items I have to bring with me… EVERYWHERE! I try, as best as I could, to write regularly, even if it is just a few minutes between the time I finish getting ready for work and before I bolt out of the front door; or when I’m preparing dinner, waiting for the meat to turn brown before I chuck the other ingredients in; at one stage, I would even do this with my husband sitting across from me in our favourite restaurant, waiting for our food order to arrive (to his relief, I don’t do this any more). Fast forward 5 years later, I have completed 6 unpublished novels, changed to another full-time job (still working for the same company though) and continue having a love affair with pen and paper. Secretary By Day, Writer By Night… I maintain a full-time job as a Secretary to Area Supervisors at an education-based company. Each Area Supervisor looks after a cluster of 14-15 schools, and I do everything from preparing general correspondence on their behalf, proofreading reports they’ve written, minute-taking of several steering committees and working parties, liaising with school principals and their leadership admin teams, taking complaint phone calls from parents and other stakeholders, and organising their 2-day cluster meetings at various function centres. For Fun When I’m not writing and juggling full-time work/domestic chores, I read quite a lot of books. My favourite authors include Jodi Picoult, Diana Gabaldon and Paullina Simons. I have read ‘The Pact’ and ‘My Sister’s Keeper’ by Jodi Picoult many times, and have bought most of her books. I have Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series collection, and I refer to it from time to time, taking a leaf out of her writing style. And ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ by Audrey Niffenegger has always reduced me to tears. At the moment, I am trying to delve into the classics, reading ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Bronte, ‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey’ by Homer. I am also an avid (albeit amateur) photographer. For my birthday a few years past, my wonderful husband gave me an SLR, and I have gone wild playing with it ever since. Whilst I haven’t done so much of madly taking snapshots of everyone and everything lately, the SLR usually goes on overdrive usage when I jet-set interstate or overseas – another passion of mine. Together with my husband, I’ve been back to visit my hometown about three times, Melbourne a few times, Sydney several times, and USA (in particular Florida, New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles)! This Christmas, we are going on a family holiday to Philippines, where my husband is from. Of course, it goes without saying that I also love spending quality time with my darling husband, from vegging out in front of the couch watching our favourite TV series to frequent date nights in our favourite restaurants.