All our lives are ordinary and extraordinary. Mine is just the same, in its own way. We have all stood strong, fallen down, and stood up again. My story is unique, but only in the fact that it is mine. 

In 1990 as a new bride, I became a member of a special rural community, I loved this land of contrasts and had two sons in crushing drought and a daughter in flooding rain. I have always been creative and I practiced everything – drawing, painting, designing anything.

DIY enthusiast, upholstery, embroidery, knitting, crochet, mosaic, silversmithing – you name it I tried it. In 2014 I moved to Brisbane and, as many of us need to do when our children grow up, began the reinvention of Robyn.  For the first time in decades, I commuted to the city. Loath to waste time I started to write. At first, I wrote about the day, the people on the bus, my amazement when I sat in the same seat every day, and my horror, when another passenger had the nerve to sit in my seat! 

Sometimes I wrote in rhyme, sometimes not. Sometimes it was funny, sometimes not. At the beginning of 2015 my 88-year-old father, told me he had an idea for a book. I was 52 and I thought, I can write this story. So, I did. Together we are the #140yearoldauthor. The first book ‘Injustice’ is a story of a father and a daughter. Next is a young adult series about a quirky young woman called Alice. What I learnt about getting started writing a book is almost as interesting as the books themselves! In 2019 I realised I needed another challenge (slightly smaller than the book writing thing), I started an online auction of paintings, one a day for 100 days. I sold 72 of the first 100 and was hooked. In 2020 I did another 100 days and this time wrote the story of each painting, connecting the image with a story, making it come to life. 2021 is about to start, another 100 days, the books. Another page on which to write.