I began my career as a Debt Collector at 19 in the transport sector with COMET Express (a division of TNT), and over the following 20 years I worked as a debt collector, credit officer, accounts analyst, notice server and sub-mercantile agent.
Through the 1980’s and 1990’s, I gained experience collecting with such international companies as DHL, Adecco, Digicall Pty Ltd, AGC, First Data International Pty Ltd, Qantas and Maersk in a wide variety of industries, including both national and international freight forwarding, employment placement, telecommunications, property finance, international financial services, shipping, chemical supplies and catering.
From simple phone collections to serving notices worth $100 million in plush boardrooms, and all stages in between, I experienced all aspects of debt collection in Australia. During the late 1990’s, I completed short-term contract collection roles while completing a Bachelor of Arts with a Psychology major at Wollongong University and also worked as a pizza deliverer, cleaner, gate keeper, bartender, lost property and parking officer as well as a deckhand on Great Barrier reef cruises.
In 2007, I resigned from my position of Accounts Analyst with First Data International to write fulltime and have since completed the following courses with the New South Wales Writes Centre:-
• Supersession with Irina Dunne (NSW Writers’ Centre Executive Director and author of The Writers Guide)
• How to Write a Best Selling Novel course with Alan Mills, author of City of Animals and The Raft
• Mentorship with Diana Giese, literary journalist and author of Lost Souls and Dragons and Beyond Chinatown
• Professional Editing Workshop with Deb Doyle
• ‘A Decent Proposal – Pitching to A Publisher with Rhonda Whitton, author of The Australian Writer’s Marketplace
I am currently trying to sell my manuscript, Jack Be Nimble - 'a detective story with out a detective'. It is a crime novel about a Sydney debt collector juggling a new apprentice, a manipulative ex-girlfriend, a sleazy brothel owner and the Australian Federal Police, and has received a positive appraisal by Catherine Hammond Editorial Services.
