About Me
I am an absolute bookworm!
The first chapter book I ever read was Roald Dahl’s Matilda, when I was 4 years old. It took me 3 days to read and I got into a little bit of trouble because mum said she could hear me giggling under my blankets at 3am when I stayed awake to read it because I couldn’t put it down. I of course wanted to be Matilda! There are so many amazing authors who inspire me, especially those in WA who put on workshops and events for young writers to help us develop our passion and skills further. There’s far too many authors to list them all but I have been lucky enough to attend workshops with AJ Betts, Meg Caddy and Rebecca Laffar Smith, so I'm extremely grateful for those opportunities and can't wait to attend many, many more. I absolutely love reading and writing, it helps my mind go to an alternate world where anything is possible and I can do things in my mind that I know I will never physically be able to do. I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and other health conditions, but that doesn’t define me! My goal is to be a successful, published author and I am working very hard towards this goal by working on a few books at the moment and continuing to enjoy reading and as many writing workshops as I'm allowed. My ultimate goal is to help kids embrace the awesomeness and importance of inclusion, diversity, self-acceptance and being kind through fun stories and workshops. Earlier in 2019 I self published my first book; Mysteries of Maybelle and currently working on my first picture book and my first Dystopian novel. 5 Random Facts about me
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Representation in literature matters!
Representation of All Abilities
There is a huge need for better representation of kids with chronic illnesses and health conditions in literature for younger children. Kids of all ages and abilities want to and deserve to have characters in the books they are reading that they can relate to and look up to. I am on a mission to make this change for the better! It's time for kids with chronic illnesses, disabilities and mental or physical differences to feel better represented and included but just as importantly, it's time for healthy and able bodied children to have better access to this kind of literature to open up a healthy dialogue and help them see and learn (in a fun way of course) that it’s okay to talk about these issues and it's absolutely okay and important to make friends with kids facing these challenges. We want to be included too. It’s time for books representing characters with disabilities to go mainstream so that all kids can see that people with disabilities are “normal” too and deserve to and love to be included. In Mysteries of Maybelle one of the main characters has Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. I created Asa to show young readers in a fun way that kids living with painful and often debilitating chronic illnesses are still valuable and we can still achieve things although we may need a little extra help or time to do it, we still matter and can absolutely still be the heroes! Representation of LGBTQ+ I feel extremely blessed to be living in a time when we have amazing authors like Holden Sheppard, Alicia Tuckerman, Maddie Godfrey, Alison Evans, Meg Caddy, Nevo Zisin and so many more who are creating Incredible, relatable and awesome characters for those of us who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community. But I still feel like the world needs more stories and more representation of the LGBTQIA+ community. We always need more accurate representation and more inclusion of important characters that are a part of the LGBTQIA+ community, not just the allies or a mere mention in stories, but important characters who have a real impact on the story and the other characters. One of the books which I have just finished the first draft for my NaNoWriMo project has many LGBTQ+ characters who are essential to the story just as so many amazing LGBTQ+ people in our world are essential to our lives and I can't wait to share it with you once it's edited! |
Some fun pics of me with a bunch of inspirational authors
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