Wendy Clarke, writer and artist. Family History(1st page)

THINGS I'VE DONE FOR A LIVING:

Current - full-time writer (purely for love: no money in sight to date :-). Previous - 15 years in banking with Commonwealth and Westpac, owner/manager childcare centre in Sydney 1975-1980; joint owner/manager coffee lounge at Lake Macquarie 1980-1982. Recycling sorter JJ Richards Qld 1995-2001. Part-time artist and full-time writer since then.

FAMILY HISTORY, HOBBIES & INTERESTS:

Married in 1967 to my darling Bob & happier than ever. 3 children, a son, 33, a daughter, 31, & another daughter who died in Sept. 2000 at age 26. Indoor pursuits: painting in oils & acrylics (to see some of my work, click here) - reading, and of course, writing. A creative writing course in 1998 got me started - short stories and poetry to begin with. Then came my first novel attempt: Be Careful What You Wish For, based on my experiences with our daughter, Shell and the 14-year heroin addiction that ultimately took her life. I've honed my craft along the way, persevered with rewrite after rewrite, because I believe it's a story worth telling.

A novel about a divorced woman who becomes involved with a Vietnam vet, a man damaged by his experiences who finds it hard to admit he needs help. The opening chapter is fairly light-hearted; I like my characters to have a warm, funny side as well as a dark side, but it deals with some heavy issues too.

A new novel, based on my husband's family history, about the hardships suffered by soldier settlers from WW 1 who were given land to farm near Stanthorpe by the government, not knowing there was no market in Brisbane for what they grew, and who named their properties after the battlefields in France.

A biography of our daughter's life: how her addiction and subsequent behaviour impacted on the rest of the family.

And I've always known I'm married to a pretty special man, but perhaps I haven't always appreciated him as much as I should have. Some days, interrupted only by my daily walks, floor exercises and weights (a necessity when you spend as much time at a keyboard as I do), I sit at my computer writing, revising or researching my books for up to eighteen hours. On those days, after a hard day at work himself, he comes home and cooks dinner, even washes up afterwards, then runs me a spa if I want one. It's wonderful to know I have so much love and so much unqualified support from him: that we've always supported each other, for that matter, through good times and bad.

Name: Wendy Ellen-Mae Clarke

(formerly Wendy Phillips of Lae, TPNG)

Star sign: Aries

Email: wendyemc@optusnet.com.au

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