About

"Sometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down" - Kobi Yamada

I grew up in concrete jungles in Southeast Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore, very briefly Taiwan) ... books were my refuge and inspiration. I loved the way words made me feel; alive, illuminated, tickled, inspired, understood.

The world of words and ideas seemed impossibly expansive and interesting. [This spell has never broken!]

Words became a big part of my life, very early on.

As I read, I copied down quotes and passages I liked in stacks of notebooks. I also found myself enjoying writing all the time (when I wasn't reading). I exchanged notes and letters with friends, journalled, and attempted stories. Later, I blogged, and at various times in my working life I have been lucky enough to be paid to write.

As a young girl I dreamed of writing a book!

Then, fear and perfectionism got in the way.

Little did I expect that my first book would not be a delicious fictitious story, but a memoir. I wrote How to love with a healing heart as a new-ish wife and first-time mama to a sweet baby girl. (I wrote a lot of it during nap times, with a lot of prayer and husband-encouragement!)

In the words of Anaïs Nin, I "write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect". I share my work with the hope of passing on a measure of inspiration, connection and joy to readers—just as so many writers have done for me all my life.

Originally from Singapore, I am now based in Auckland, New Zealand with my husband, Jarred, and our three children.