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Michelle grew up in the coalfields of NSW, Australia. She can’t remember a time when she couldn’t read... or a time when she hasn’t had a book or ten on her bedside table... or the dining table, coffee table, any spare occasional tables...

Her fifteen minutes of schooling fame came at the age of eight when she wrote Keri the Koala Baby – a story in chapters. It greatly impressed her teachers, but unfortunately not the publisher to whom a family friend sent it. Her first rejection at the age of eight!

After high school she spent a year working in a clothing factory (sewing the crotch in men’s knickers) before embarking on a BA with a major in English Literature. She has worked an assortment of jobs. Everything from waitress at a wedding convention centre –where the staff oohed and aahed over fairytale wedding dresses – to answering the complaints line at a call centre for a bank – where the staff didn’t ooh and aah over fairytale wedding dresses. All of which have provided her with endless ideas (and characters!) for stories.

Her own “happy-ever-after” came in 1998 when she eloped to England with husband Greg. They were married in Westminster – the town hall not the Abbey – lived on tinned soup for a month so they could afford to spend their wedding night in The Dorchester then flew out the next day to honeymoon in Paris. The sheer heady romance of it all made her wonder if she could breathe life into such encounters on the page.

And she hasn’t looked back. She loves staring off into the middle-distance, pen in hand, and scrawling away furiously to bring her characters to life. She’s a sucker for happy endings, heroines who have a secret stash of chocolate, and heroes who know how to laugh.

She is currently enrolled in a Creative Writing Masters at the University of Newcastle, fighting a losing battle with her jungle of a garden, and trying to keep her doughnut addiction in check.

Michelle loves to hear from her readers and can be contacted at www.michelle-douglas.com.

Michelle Douglas