About me

I have lived in New Zealand for most of my life, growing up in New Plymouth, attending University in Dunedin (Bachelor of Pharmacy), and spending 10 years in Christchurch where I worked at the Christchurch Hospital Pharmacy.

However, happily, I have also managed to include some travel in my life, and lived overseas for a few years. I spent a year in England with my young family in 1981, and a few years later moved to live and work for 4 years in Sweden (1988-1991).

While in Sweden, I learned the language and started up PrePublication Services, primarily acting as a language consultant for academics and postgraduate students at the Pharmacy Department of Uppsala University and for AstraZeneca in Södertälje. This period of my life provided an invaluable lesson on what it’s like to be an immigrant in a strange land, and gifted me with the mind-expanding benefits of learning to live in and love another culture. I danced folkdans and I played violin folkmusic with huge enjoyment, if not skill.

However, most of my professional life has been spent working for Adis, an international medical publishing company based in Auckland, New Zealand. This job involved, at various times, extensive travel to attend conferences and meet with editorial board members, allowing me to finally rid myself of any last vestiges of island-based insularity. Then, in 2009, I left Adis and started my new life as a freelance medical writer/editor.

I now live in a small (population about 1200) seaside village, Oakura, on the west coast of North Island, New Zealand. Oakura is nestled into the foothills of a dormant volcano, Mount Taranaki. This mountain shelters us from the cold southerly winds that occasionally make life miserable for the citizens of the nearby city of New Plymouth (13 km to the north).

Oakura beach is known for its great surf breaks and black iron-rich sands. In theory, it is possible to catch a wave or two in the surf at Oakura in the morning, and then ski the afternoon away on the slopes of Mount Taranaki. But you’re more likely to find me in my garden with a cup of peppermint tea and a book.