My parents immigrated to NZ after the 2nd world war, my mother was a very educated woman and my father wrote poetry and told the most amazing stories.  They bought an outback farm in the Bay of Plenty and my brother and i didn't socialise with other families until I was four.  This only happened as we moved to Waikato where my parents bought another farm. Shyness and dyslexia created problems throughout my schooling. Art and creative writing were my favourite subjects, along with social studies as that enabled me to develop a love of other countries and cultures.

I completed my premlimary diploma of fine arts but was unable to attend art school so i went to Hamilton Teachers College instead.  After I completed my Diploma of Teaching i travelled and taught in the UK.  I then spent a further two years teaching in Tanzania, where I met my husband to be.  We came home to NZ, and we had two children.  While the children were young i belonged to Toastmistress and various writing groups,  Icompleted a BEd and Masters in Education, Psychology along with a year of counselling and guidance.

In the early 1990's, for approximately 18 months, I wrote a weekly column for This Week, a local Waikato paper, subsidiary of the Herald, under the psyeudem of Anita Barnett.  

In the following years I returned to teaching, opened my own business, and became a carer in England for ten years before returnning to look after my elderly mother.  

I am currently living in Hamilton and have been a member of Ruakura Writers, a Hamilton  group that specialises in writing short stories.

Both of my sons both live overseas and I plan to spend some time travelling this year to visit them in Denmark and Australia.

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