Michelle lives in Auckland, New Zealand in a cute little cottage she calls ‘The Writery’’. Originally from the Deep South of New Zealand, she has lived in Auckland since she was a teenager but is still a Southern girl at heart.

The two best things she ever grew are her sons Paul and Mike.  Her boys were the inspiration for her novel Payback which became a NZ Post Finalist in 2009. In fact, Michelle loves mixing truth with a bit of fiction which makes her friends and family extremely nervous that someday, something they say or do, might end up in a novel.

From the age of 5 Michelle knew she wanted to be a writer but it wasn’t until her boys went to school she thought she’d ‘give it a go’. In 1997 she enrolled in a correspondence course and by misinterpreting the assignment wrote her first, accidental novel. The surprised tutor reiterated the instructions but the tutors final comment was ‘Its not bad, you should try and get it published.’ Its still in the bottom drawer in the study, gathering dust.

Not wanting to get locked into one particular genre Michelle randomly alternates between writing pre-teen fiction, chick-lit and historical fiction.  Her novel Riverstones, a historical fiction based in Central Otago, New Zealand, came to her in a dream, so real she could smell the smoke and touch the walls of the Skippers Canyon pub.

Michelle hopes to write the movie screenplay of Riverstones soon so she can showcase the beauty of the Central Otago landscape to the world.

Currently there are three books in the Riverstones series, Riverstones and Scattered Stones, Sticks and Stones. An untitled number four is in process and will published as soon as it is proof read.

And in a real departure from Riverstones her latest book is a chick lit read, perfect for the holidays – A Box of Ex’s in My Garage