Q.  The Third Time is a sequel story to the character Jack from The Beach House. Did you always intend to write a sequel or sequels to your first book?

A.  I hadn't decided either way. It wasn't a deliberate plan, but I didn't rule it out either. In saying that, though, I did begin to get the idea for this story not long after finishing The Beach House.

Q.  Was it fun to revisit characters from a previous book?

A.  Yes, definitely. It was great to develop the characters of both Jack and Danny further, especially now that Danny is a teenager and their relationship has evolved in a new direction.

It's hard to believe it's been ten years since my first novel The Beach House was published. Ironically it took the better part of ten years to get the book finished, but I got there in the end and it finally made it's way out into the world.

What a journey it's been! Although my book did not go on to become an international bestseller (still hoping!), it did enjoy a moderate level of success and still sells copies today. Fortunately I have refined my processes since then so it no longer takes me that long to write one book, but I am grateful for all the lessons my first book taught me - especially in the editing field.

In the intervening decade I have published two more novels and a collection of short stories and I am currently working on my fourth novel. Although I did not anticipate The Beach House would be the start of a series, it did happen with The Perfect Proposal (short story) and Third Offence both being sequels to one of the characters from The Beach House.

So happy anniversary to The Beach House. Thank you for allowing me to achieve my dream of being an author and for staying in my head all those times I decided I just couldn't do it. And thank you for the other stories you inspired through my sequels.

What Inspired You To Write Room 46?

There were a few influences behind the story of Room 46. The first was visiting an elderly friend in a nursing home and seeing how such places are run. The staff do such an amazing job as do the volunteers who so freely give their time to bring some joy into the life of the residents there. Another was the way that people can get lost in the welfare system. I am certainly not saying that people don't deserve to get welfare, more that they don't always have the right support to realise their own potential and that there can be a positive way forward.

You have used the 'story within the story' again with Room 46? Is this your preferred book format?

No, not really. It just happened to be the way the story came out. The stories within the story are a bit different with Room 46 though as they are seemingly unrelated to begin with. That was the challenge for me - how to weave them together into a novel. I'm fairly sure my next book will follow a more standard novel format as I would like to try that style of story as well.

Are any of the characters based on real people?

No, not entirely. Grace is based loosely on somebody I saw on a news story once, but of course not knowing this person I have added my own interpretation to the character. The character of Marion is a combination of a few people and I think she is the kind of person that most of us have met somewhere in our lives.

Speaking of Marion it is not often that a cleaner is a pivotal character in a novel. Was this a deliberate choice?

What I wanted to do with Marion was to illustrate that sometimes the people we overlook in life are actually much more substantial than we give them credit for. Marion loves her job and sees it as a genuine career, which goes against the grain of what society at large thinks. We can often take people like that for granted without acknowledging what they contribute to society.

It's one of those funny things, you are meandering around the Op Shop when you come to the book section and there is your book on the shelves. In some ways it's great - it's still that thrill to see a book you wrote in print on a shelf for sale. But it's definitely not as thrilling as seeing it in the New Release section of Dymock's (Insert your own local bookshop). In fact it can even feel a little bit embarrassing.

Of course there is ego involved in this reaction. Things in an op shop are essentially unwanted - items past their prime, or simply surplus to needs. You know yourself when you are having a clear out and just want to get rid of things, commonly referred to as "junk". It stings just a bit to think that your book, that once graced somebody's bookshelf, has been looked at, considered and then turfed into the "donate" box. Once you get past this little dagger to the heart, however there is a more positive way to look at featuring on an op shop shelf.

Q. What was your inspiration for the book?

A. Well, I love the beach and I love Queenslander houses, so that was my setting sorted out. Also there are so few books set in QLD and I wanted to make it somewhere that people could relate to (most people who come to QLD for a holiday go to the beach). And there is the magic of a holiday - when you are there the 'real' world seems so far away and in that little bubble you believe all  your  problems can be solved. 

Q. Why a fictional town rather than a real place?

A. I did contemplate this for a while, but in the end I needed to be able to control the setting to suit the story. I did mention as many 'real'  places as I could to help people to relate to the settings that the characters are from.

Q. So, then is Sunset Point based on a real town?

A. Not really....not one town in particular. There are elements of a few small towns in it (not necessarily beachside towns) and also memories of towns from my childhood (back when Noosa and  Mooloolaba were much smaller).

Q. Continuing in that vein is Sunset Point Beach and the house itself based on a real beach or real house?

A. Once again, not really. The beach is a combination of about three of my favourite beaches and the house a combination of several Queenslander houses I have been in (including a beach house that used to be in Maroochydore a really long time ago).

Let's face it, writing is a tough gig. Especially when you are in the 99% of authors who rarely admit to themselves, let alone the general public, what their actual book sales are during any given month. It's very easy to see successful authors as an entirely different species - the ones who have "made it" and no longer associate with us mere mortals still hoping for that breakthrough novel. So it was a refreshing surprise to attend an author talk with the mega successful author Michael Connelly and listen to his experiences and to be reminded that whether you have sold 70 books or 70 million, as he has, that the writing experience is still the same.

Flashback, my collection of short stories is now available in paperback. Originally comprising three short stories and only available as an e-book, Flashback has been updated with two new short stories and also includes my other stand alone short story, 'The Perfect Proposal.'

Two earlier combined versions (The Perfect Proposal and Other Stories - also known as Short Story Collection) will no longer be available. Those volumes did not include the two new short stories from Flashback. Flashback in paperback can be purchased here from this website or through Amazon (easiest if outside Australia).

Coming up with a title for your novel can be surprisingly challenging. With my first book, The Beach House, the title came to me long before I jotted down a single note about the story. I didn't care that there were several other books with the same title, it was set in stone as far as I was concerned. When my publisher gently suggested I might consider changing to a variation on the theme (in the interests of being more original) I politely said I would consider it, but knew it would never happen. I have never regretted taking that firm stance as my book is about not only "a" beach house but "The" Beach House.