Short English summary of this website - (for those of you who do not master the language of the Low Lands ;-)

WELCOME!

Hello friends,

How nice of you drop by. As you’ve seen I've made my website in Dutch but since I have quite a few friends abroad and perhaps for the occassional reader who’s found my website by accident, I’ve added some information in English.

WRITING

I’ve been writing for a long time, but never ‘for real’. I think it started with the discovery of fan fiction on the Internet – hurray for vast amount of stories about heroes from tv or films that I enjoyed watching. It didn’t take long before I decided to try that out myself and I published some stuff on the Internet. That’s been very educational – lots of friendly people who encouraged me to keep writing and improve my skills. Especially my English thrived in those days! :-)

I did that for a couple of years when my youngest daughter asked me to write a story for her and I did. It was real children’s story, written in my native language Dutch. She just loved it. And she wasn’t the only one… that’s what set the wheels in motion. To make a long story short: I found an interested publisher, one of (if not THE) biggest children’s books publishers in The Netherlands and my first book THE DRAGONMASTER was released in 2005. What a kick that was!

And it did well: it was sold out in less than five months and another run was issued. And that for a debut! Quickly after that I got into writing on a steady basis: THE IMPOSSIBLE ASSIGNMENT (2005), THE SECRET OF THE BATHUNTER (2006), THE BSK-CLUB (2007) and recently FLASHBACK! (2008).

More or less by coincidence I entered a writing competition I found on the Internet: a Dutch ‘Jill Mansell’ was sought, and everyone could join. I didn’t know ifI was up to writing chicklit while being so busy with children’s books, but I gave it a try. Although not a winner in the competition, I was contacted by a publishing company, which produces chicklits for the Dutch market. And… a new genre, new books. So for the older reader (14+) I have been writing chicklits ever since. THROUGH THICK AND THIN (2006), RUNNING OR STANDING STILL (2007) and LOVE UNDER CONSTRUCTION (2008).

FUTURE BOOKS

To be published over the next twelve months are: BALLETSHOES AND BOXERSHORTS (2008), BABYSIT BABES, part one, two, three and four. Yep, a series. Four parts so far, more to come.

A MOVIE

A side project with immense impact is SINT (2007). The book is about the life of St. Nicolas, and I wrote this for a client. This book will be made into a movie in the coming years, which is almost too hard to grasp. I will be walking over a red carpet in a couple of years, being the author of the original story on which the film is based!

DAILY ROUTINE

Now, looking back, it seems almost unbelievable that I wrote this much in such a short time. I have a job too, next to writing at home. Don’t ask me how I do it – I just don’t know. I sit down, hands over my keyboard, and I write…! Ideas I have more than enough. I try to write every day, albeit I’m not always very productive. Working on my website, promotional tours and short stories in between are also part of my authorship, so I have plenty to do.

ABOUT ME

I’m married, have two daughters and I live in Eindhoven. I work as a graphic designer/desk top publisher, and I write. For fun I play saxophone, I like to read and watch a movie, and fiddle a bit with Photoshop.

And for the time being? I keep on writing. I love it. Couldn’t do without it.