About Judith
Born in country Victoria, I was bundled off to Queensland at three and to Western Australia at nine. I was a little girl dreaming, writing and speaking to audiences in my head. I loved dancing and I loved the trumpet. Creatively I was also drawn to theatre and singing. I have dabbled in all of these my entire life, but somehow writing, after receiving the lion's share of my childhood, was inexplicably put on hold after my university degree in creative writing and literature.
What followed was twenty-five years of being a wife, mum and teacher - splattered with diversions across Australia on a cotton farm, in a sewing factory, in administration - and quite a few disasters. I can tell you how it feels to lose family members to suicide, cancer and Alzheimer's. To be temporarily relying on others for shelter as a young family due to termite damage and the need to replace our roof - ceilings and all. To suddenly need to work full time, 12 hours per day, to help pay my husband's tax debt. To pick up all the demand letters not even opened from the office floor after said husband's business closure and his subsequent depression - and be the one to sort out the financial mess.
I could have told you all the good news and grand adventures first but as a woman diagnosed with Asperger's at 43, my brain skews towards drama queen, not fairy godmother. Changing my perspective will allow me to tell you that I love my husband. How driving and tenting across the Nullarbor with him five weeks into our marriage in a tiny two cylinder handy-van was so much fun. That our two boys are tall, handsome and amazing. That despite others' horror at my first overseas destination being India, I was thrilled with every moment I was there.... almost! My dad helped me fulfil a lifelong dream to go to Africa, where in Zambia we visited the area my great aunt was a missionary for forty-two years. Inspired, my own family rescued a seventeen year old boy by housing him for fourteen months.
Now it is time to write it all down. The catalyst is both mercenary and altruistic. I have given up teaching to home educate and care for my youngest boy. He has high functioning autism. We both need a career that fits into our health needs and skill sets. On the other hand, I am revisiting my life with a new lens - awakening my childhood heart and falling in love with writing again - but not just for me. I hope that by sharing my own stories, my readers' lives will be touched, and new discoveries will spur us on to be the best selves we can be.
What followed was twenty-five years of being a wife, mum and teacher - splattered with diversions across Australia on a cotton farm, in a sewing factory, in administration - and quite a few disasters. I can tell you how it feels to lose family members to suicide, cancer and Alzheimer's. To be temporarily relying on others for shelter as a young family due to termite damage and the need to replace our roof - ceilings and all. To suddenly need to work full time, 12 hours per day, to help pay my husband's tax debt. To pick up all the demand letters not even opened from the office floor after said husband's business closure and his subsequent depression - and be the one to sort out the financial mess.
I could have told you all the good news and grand adventures first but as a woman diagnosed with Asperger's at 43, my brain skews towards drama queen, not fairy godmother. Changing my perspective will allow me to tell you that I love my husband. How driving and tenting across the Nullarbor with him five weeks into our marriage in a tiny two cylinder handy-van was so much fun. That our two boys are tall, handsome and amazing. That despite others' horror at my first overseas destination being India, I was thrilled with every moment I was there.... almost! My dad helped me fulfil a lifelong dream to go to Africa, where in Zambia we visited the area my great aunt was a missionary for forty-two years. Inspired, my own family rescued a seventeen year old boy by housing him for fourteen months.
Now it is time to write it all down. The catalyst is both mercenary and altruistic. I have given up teaching to home educate and care for my youngest boy. He has high functioning autism. We both need a career that fits into our health needs and skill sets. On the other hand, I am revisiting my life with a new lens - awakening my childhood heart and falling in love with writing again - but not just for me. I hope that by sharing my own stories, my readers' lives will be touched, and new discoveries will spur us on to be the best selves we can be.
