This is My Story ...

I am blessed to live in the Northern Rivers of NSW.  In this magical part of Australia, I spend my days focused on developing my writing skills and raising three beautiful children (well almost grown young adults now). I love good coffee and a gab with friends. I also enjoy spending time with my kids and cooking for my family (two teenage boys mean lots of meals are devoured in our home!). I immigrated to Australia from the US in 1996 where I met my husband. After a raft of marketing and community relations roles, I finally returned to my long-held love of writing and haven't looked back.

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​SPLIT: a life shared, living with Multiple Personality Disorder is my first full manuscript, and I can't wait to get it out in the public arena, telling the story of living and surviving a complicated life. Tentatively set to be release mid 2024 (see here for more about SPLIT).  Keeping me busy in the meantime is my second manuscript which details the process of adopting our three kids, and challenges the notion of generational motherhood and trauma, and breaking those cycles.  But at its heart, is the joy and wonder that my children have and continue to be to me.

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 I have been blessed with fabulous mentors in Lee Kofman, noted memoirist, and encourager extraordinaire.  The list of authors who have nurtured me on my journey is long, but I would be remiss to not mention Al Close, for lots of coffee, thoughtful insights, and sharing his wisdom so graciously. There are so many who constantly encourage me; my gratefulness for their role in my creative development cannot be understated. I am part of several writing group where nurturing and critical feedback for our work is a joy. I am always looking for opportunities to improve my writing skills and regularly take courses through several writing centres I belong to.

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​What does it mean to live with Multiple Personality Disorder? Or, as it is referred to these days, Dissociative Identity Disorder. It’s pretty straightforward – when I was small, I experienced trauma, where the only escape I could find was to retreat into my mind.  While I hid away, someone else had to take my place.  These are called alters. They lived a life I could not survive, and I’m ever grateful (most days) for that. Some people have 100’s if not 1000’s of alters and alter fragments.  I am a high-functioning multiple, with less than 40 alters that live in my head, and rarely come out now that I am an adult.  What this means is that you would never know I was multiple unless I told you.  Instead, my alters subtly influence my life rather than taking over (the constant anxiety and need to control my environment runs deep for my tribe). 

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