Over the next few months – or longer – I’ll be bringing you interviews with other indie authors or indie publishers. To get the ball rolling, I figured I’d interview myself!

 Ok, so we can get to know each other a little better, do you have a specific genre that you write in?

Absolutely…chick lit…women’s fiction…call it what you will.

Do you have a day job? If so, how do you manage or schedule your writing around it?

I do. I remotely work back to Sydney. I’m part-time, so 3 days a week I’m on spread-sheets and processes, and the other 2 days (plus whatever time I can grab on a weekend) I have for fiction. I make the absolute most of that time.

When I lived in Sydney and was working in the city 4 days a week, I’d get up at 5am and write for 45mins before I had to get ready for work – and then again every night. It all feels so much more balanced now.

Where do you write? Office, coffee shop, all of the above?

I write in my home office, sitting up in bed (promise you won’t tell my chiropractor), and also down at our local surf club at least one afternoon a week. Why wouldn’t you with this view.

What about notes? Are you old school – eg journals or manual notes – or new, ie digital?

For notes, I keep a journal that I write messily in. I’m in the process of organising my notes into bullet journal format (I wrote about that here) – and that, I think, is going to change my life #notexaggerating

What made you decide to go indie?

I’ve written about that before – you can find the post here. Essentially it boils down to creative control. Thinking about recently when I trashed my novel and decided to turn it into 3 novelettes, there’s no way a traditional publisher who had accepted my original pitch would have allowed me to do what I’m doing.

My next projects are a huge departure from what I’ve done before too – being an indie gives me the ability to take my career in the direction that I want it to go – for better or for worse.

What has been your biggest learning so far?

This whole thing has been a huge learning curve, but my biggest takeaway is that indie publishing is absolutely not about overnight success. I thought I knew that, but I’m not sure that I knew it…if you know what I mean.

Any regrets? Things you wish that you’d known or would have done differently?

No regrets. They don’t work (to quote Robbie Williams). The thing I wish I knew? Just how important an email list and social media platform is.

What about your team? Do you use the same team each time?

I do. I use Nicola O’Shea for my editorial work, and Keith Stevenson for formatting. You can find them at ebookedit. I also use the same cover designer – Jacinda May.

Plotter or pantser?

Pantser, although, for my next project (no spoiler alert) I’m going to need to learn how to plot…at least a little…

 Your desk – messy or neat? Care to share a photo?

I’m trying to be neat at present. My office is right near the front door, so visible to anyone coming into our house. Plus, I’m juggling partition with creative work, so need the clean lines of division. I even use 2 separate laptops. The one constant is my muse – Kali, @adventurespaniel

Coffee or tea…or something else?

Tea…or wine!

Music? Or do you prefer to work in silence?

I create playlists – or mixed tapes – for each project I work on. This really helps with re-writes. When I’m writing, though, I pop my headphones on and play anything from the classics to indie songwriters.

What are you working on right now?

The I Want You Back trilogy. I’m about to start the re-write and can’t wait to get stuck back into it.