I currently have three works in progress. 
Three!
it wasn’t meant to be that way.
The Anatomists’ Handbook started life two years ago as a dual storyline book, weaving together fact and fiction, contemporary and historical strands. A reimagining of the writing and illustration of the great Gray’s Anatomy which intertwined with a contemporary strand about an injured New Zealand doctor. Editors in London enjoyed the historical strand, the new – not so much. So I am separating the parts, keeping to London, late 1850s with both real and fictional characters, and beefing the book back up to novel-length. The handsome man in the photograph is Dr Henry Gray – who conceived and wrote the text for Gray’s Anatomy. Little is known about his life, making it fun to write a fictionalised version of the writing and illustration of his great tome.
Mila and the Bone Man is a novel I wrote in 2019 during my Diploma in Creative Writing through NorthTec. Mila is a young woman from Northland who has an autistic friend, Tommy. Tommy finds a human hand buried in the forest. Mila knows whose it is. How much does Tommy know and understand? The MS is currently with my agent Vicki Marsdon. We’ll iron out a few knots, re-edit, submit, and perhaps one day we’ll see what the world thinks of her.
In 2020 I am also working on a story cycle called Songs to Sing to The Dying. This will form the thesis for a Masters in Creative Writing through AUT. James George is my mentor, and I suspect we will have fun chats and a few coffees in between some bouts of very hard work.
Writing is my new passion. Many years ago I published Bent Not Broken and Life On The Line, autobiographies that many people still remember. Some with great fondness.
I recently had to retire from doctoring – which I adored and was good at – for medical reasons and now spend my time with words and the occasional wounds of my characters. They bleed and cry on the page, not my shoulder.
In this blog, I want to talk about writing and healing and putting words to the things some people wish we’d leave alone. I’ll post snippets from my works in progress and we can chat about life, the universe and whatever else takes your fancy.
I’m a writer. now, I’m allowed to make stuff up.
Come and sit beside me. Stay a while. Humour me 🙂