I was born in Perth, Western Australia on 13th September, 1960. I was the youngest of five children. My father was a pathologist and my mother was first a librarian and then an historian. I grew up in a very strictly Catholic home.

When I was nearly five my parents returned to South Africa and settled in Durban. Our family was very dysfunctional, and I found refuge in reading. My mother was the librarian at a teacher's training college, and she brought home piles of new books for me to read. My favourites were by Elfrida Vipont - 'Lark in the Morn' and 'Lark on the Wing,' and 'From the mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler' by E L Konigsburg.

My father loved to recite poetry over dinner- he introduced me to Chaucer, Shakespeare's sonnets, Dante, Wordsworth, Coleridge Taylor and Homer. He recited Homer in Greek, Dante in Italian and Chaucer in Middle English. Sadly I suffered from overload and still today have an aversion to poetry and poets.

I was ten when I wrote my first book. My love for writing only really took off when I was a teenager and had an inspirational English teacher who encouraged me to keep at it. After school I studied music, and then married Luke Stubbs, who was training to be an Anglican priest. We lived in parishes all over the Western Cape for eighteen years before he left the church to become a publisher of theology. We have three sons called Peter, James and Philip.

I began to write when Philip was a baby. My first attempt at an adult novel was so inept that I spent three years teaching myself the craft of writing, mostly by analyzing successful writer's work.

When I was forty one I went into therapy. This was the turning point for my writing. By learning to understand my own emotional processes, and by allowing childhood wounds to heal, I found that I could focus my creative energy and start writing the way I had always wanted to. I try and write 1000 words a day come hell or highwater.

As a writer of books for children its important that I maintain contact with children, especially now my own are getting older. I teach part time at St George's Grammar School in Mowbray. I play the piano for assemblies and teach drama to children between the ages of 9 and 14. I get a lot of my ideas from watching the children and staff interact. I also try out almost all the books I write on the kids at school, and take their feedback very seriously.

If you'd like to know more about me, my childhood and how my birth family cut me off without a shilling you can read my memoir, 'Here be Lions.' I love to make things. I have made a whole collection of hand made miniature books (110 in all), and have decorated my garden fence with things other people have thrown away. I like to play the piano and to sing jazz, to make people laugh and to shop in charity shops.

Here are the Answers to some of the questions I always get asked:

Where do you get your ideas from?
They jump out at me. I'll be reading something, or watching TV, and POW, there it is, a good idea. When I get goose bumps then I know it's a very good idea.

How do you go about writing a book?
When I have an idea - and sometimes that is just a picture in my head of a single scene, I get to work. I commit to 1000 words a day, and just start writing. I have a voice inside my head that narrates the story to me, and I have to follow that voice very carefully. Lots of other voices interfere, especially the bossy inner editor, who always thinks she knows better. I know that I'm following my inner story teller, because the story seems 'hot.' The moment the trail goes cold, and I can't hear the storyteller anymore, I go back to where I last heard her, and try and pick up the trail again. I write the whole first draft like this. Then I go back and do a rewrite, tidying up loose ends, repetitions of words, messy sentences.

Then I find a class of children to read it to. I usually ask their teacher if I can take all their English lessons for a week or however long it takes to read. (The teachers are usually thrilled to have time off.) Then I read the story aloud, with a pencil in my hand. I note in the margin whenever the kids get restless or bored, or when they seem to not have understood something clearly enough. At the end of the lesson I ask them questions to make sure they know what's going on, and I may make a mark to rewrite a section that has gone too quickly and needs fleshing out. When the story is finished I ask them for suggestions about the story line. They often make excellent suggestions, and can be very vocal about what should happen to this or that character. I consider their suggestions very very carefully. Sometimes I completely rewrite the ending and go back and read it again to see if they are happier with it.

This process works so well because I have built up a good relationship with the children in the school, and they know that their opinions are valued. If they didn't know me, they would be much less honest about where they think the story isn't working. It also works because I used to be a teacher, and have learnt how to maintain discipline in the classroom.

Because I know the kids so well and see them several times a week when I come in to play for assemblies, I know something about their backgrounds. So if my story hinges around a particular family problem like intense sibling rivalry or divorce I take special care to watch the body language of those children who I know have had personal experience of these issues. From this I measure when I need to pull back on the emotional aspects, and when I could go a little further. I learn so much from watching the children as they listen, and they constantly surprise me with the forcefulness of their opinions and their wisdom.

When I've finished rewriting the story, using their suggestions, I send it to a publisher. They always want bits rewritten, which I do, after some discussion. It goes onto an editor then. I usually request my favourite editor, Glynis Lloyd, who understands me and my writing process particularly well. She usually makes me do some rewriting too. So all in all I will do a minimum of six drafts and often double that before the manuscript finally gets sent to the printers.

You have described yourself as a 'blue-collar writer.' What do you mean by that?
I nicked this phrase from Joyce Carol Oates. It described exactly how I feel about my writing. I put in the hours and work hard at it, day after day.

I used to waste a lot of time moaning about how hard it is to sit in front of a computer all alone, trying to generate the creative energy to complete a story right through to the very last word. Then I became friends with Cape Town artist, Jenny Parsons. She and her studio partner, Mary Visser have a pact that they are not allowed to grumble or complain about how hard it is to paint. She made me realise that either writing was too hard for me, and I should give it up and go back to teaching, or I should embrace it and stop whinging.

So I decided never to complain again. I made a pact with myself that when I was writing I would do a minimum of 1000 words a day and that I had to keep to it, even if I sat down at 10.00 at night to get my words done. The results have been astonishing. I found that the more disciplined I was (and I'm not naturally disciplined) the easier it became. The story flowed smoothly, I grew more confident in my voice, and I didn't feel the need to moan anymore.

I think that many writers and other people in the arts waste their energy by pursuing the image of the fabulous writer or artist. If you pour your creative energy into the perfect clothes or house or look, you are making yourself the product, and are leaving the creative leftovers for your work. It's the same with talking about your work to other people. The energy gets talked away, and when you get to writing or painting or whatever you feel de-inspired.

How do you maintain your creative energy?
It's hard to sit down in the morning feeling tired and empty, knowing that you have to generate a thousand words. When you work from home, and you have a family and maybe a part time job, there are always plenty of important things to drag you away from the computer. I used to just give up, and put off writing until I was in the mood. But now that I know I have to write my words, I have devised strategies to keep me working. I am very possessive over my creative energy. I still haven't got it completely right, but these are some of the things I have learned to do to maintain my creative drive:

• I take time to play. Sometimes I write stories just for fun. I make things to stick on my gate. I talk nonsense to children and any adult who wants to play along. I talk in silly accents, play the piano, draw funny pictures.
• I look after myself. I try and eat healthily and to go for a long walk in the evening or swim, anything to change the physical pattern of sitting and writing.
• I spend time with close friends and my family.
• I go to therapy regularly and talk about the process of writing, what my characters are revealing about myself and my own feelings and complexes. I also talk through writer's block. I often get paralysed with fear about writing, and my therapist gets me moving again.
• Sometimes when I am waiting to start a story I realize that I need to give it time to grow inside me. Then I do admin, tidy up, cook or start a craft project until the story is hot enough to start.
• And sometimes when I'm stuck I get up from the computer and start doing the menial chores that are calling me. I keep thinking about the story, tossing ideas around in my head. I sometimes think continuously for ten or twelve frustrating hours before the solution comes to me, all at once in a flash.