If I could choose only one creative mentor, I’d give the role to Euterpe, the Greek muse of music and lyrics. This is not only because I currently reside in Athens, Greece, but because of my life as a thirty-something Australian-native literary fiction author, poet and singer/songwriter/guitarist, whose literary inspiration often stems from songs I’ve written.

Being the daughter of a semi-famous rock and roll duo from Melbourne, I grew up surrounded by song. For a while it seemed logical to travel the musician’s path, especially when my first band, spAnk, was a semi-finalist in the Australian National Battle of the Bands, back in 1999, and received radio airplay on Triple J. Although I spent my early twenties writing and recording dozens of songs while completing a Bachelor of Arts at Latrobe University, I decided I also had a love for the written word, and began to pursue a career as a writer. I began as a poet, drawing from my musical background and etching my thoughts and feelings into verse. Those stanzas soon turned into sentences and paragraphs, and in November 2011, my debut literary novel, "String Bridge," was published by Lucky Press, LLC (USA), along with an all-original soundtrack, which I wrote, performed, and had professionally produced. In May 2011, I self-published a collection of raw, edgy poems entitled, "Twisted Velvet Chains," which was endorsed by the editors of "Rose & Thorn Journal," and "The Stray Branch." So far, both books have received excellent reviews.

The preface of "String Bridge" describes in detail how music has influenced my writing. My literary voice is said to overflow with “lyrical descriptions, unique metaphors, tight dialogue, and an abundance of sensory detail.” I have also been told I have the ability to take a seemingly ordinary three-chord type story and turn it into a main stage event.

In addition to "String Bridge" and "Twisted Velvet Chains," I have a variety of works published in online and print literary journals and anthologies, including "100 Stories for Queensland" and "Tiny Dancer: Shadows at the Stage Door" (pending release), both through Brisbane, Australia’s, eMergent Publishing in 2011. In 2010, I received an award in the Rhyming Poem category, for the '79th Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition.

To read more about "String Bridge," please visit www.stringbridge.com.