A shape shifter novella set in Egypt. I adore reading about shape shifters, but this is my first attempt at writing one. I'm having a lot of fun both with research and the writing.

I have lots of favorite authors but one that springs to mind is Janet Evanovich. I love the combination of mystery and humor. Laughter is such a great pick-me-up. In fact, I want to BE Stephanie Plum when I grow up!

One who likes the way I write and wants to buy my books!

LOL When I received your list of questions, I printed them out and was reading them aloud to my husband. I started laughing because I knew he'd start muttering about tidying up the second I read this question. Does that give you a hint? I have lots of piles over the floor. To someone else it might look like a mess, but I know where everything is. I also have what I call my "mobile office". At the moment, it's set up in front of the TV with piles of research for my shape shifter book, a copy of my synopsis, a dictionary and thesaurus. My mobile office gets cleaned up in between books, but I'm afraid the main office remains disorganized and cluttered to the uneducated eye.

I like to read, spend time with my husband, and walk with our dog on the beach or in the bush. Both my husband and I love to travel and explore different parts of the world. New Zealand is such a long flight from anywhere that we try to spend at least a month away at a time.

This is a tricky one, but here goes... I live in New Zealand, I'm quite shy, I'm a vegetarian and I'd love to write a serious book. Sometimes, I try really hard but humor just creeps in when I'm not looking. Little gremlins must be hiding in the piles in my office. Oh, yeah...here's another one-most of my books manage to have a dead body littering the pages somewhere.

That's easy-paranormal followed closely by historical.

That's easy too-paranormal followed closely by historical, and if these are combined with romantic suspense that's even better! Also anything starring Stephanie Plum. Did I tell you I want to BE Stephanie when I grow up?

Definitely! Writers are delicate creatures with fragile egos, and we need a support team to cheer or console as appropriate. I'm blessed with a great family and friends who cheer me along or bully me when I need it. I'm not sure how they know which type of support I need at any given time, but the process seems to work well. My husband has always and continues to encourage me in whatever dream I strive toward.

I've always loved to read, and at school I loved writing stories. I never seriously considered writing as a profession. I wanted to be a teacher like my mother.

One of the first stories I wrote and had published was when I was about 11. My parents used to receive a magazine called "The Farmer" written for the New Zealand farming community. They used to have a children's page. This particular summer they held a competition where you had to write in and say where you wanted to spend the Christmas holidays. I wrote a story about wanting to travel to outer space and visit Mars. (My love of paranormal started early!) I came second and won $5.00. I remember that next time they ran the competition they reworded and entrants had to say where in the world they'd like to spend their holidays.

My most recent release is from Ellora's Cave. It's called Talking Dogs, Aliens and Purple People Eaters. Janaya is a bodyguard on a mission. She wants to protect her aunt from mercenaries and return to Dalcon in time to sit exams for her promotion. What should be an easy job goes badly awry when their space ship crashes on Earth. Add in a New Zealand policeman who just wants to fish, a pesky problem with bonding, a talking dog, some purple-suited hit men, plus some UFO hunters and you get an adventure of epic proportions.

I had heaps of fun writing Janaya and Luke's adventures and hope to write more in the future.

Pretty boring really :)
Get out of bed, walk the dog, work, writing and email-general procrastination, spend time with husband, dinner, walk the dog, writing/television, go to bed. Start cycle over. I'm a creature of habit during the week! The weekends now-that's a different story LOL

Finish the book-no matter how bad you think it is. A finished book can be edited, but a blank page can't!
Don't get caught up in the contest circuit. In order to get published you have to submit to publishers.
And finally, never, ever give up on your dreams.