Tricia: I'm a Scorpio—very important in the overall scheme of things. I'm a typical Scorpio, keep faithful friends for life and the minute someone does something really mean and nasty they are deleted from my list of favourite people. I'm a widow and live in Cranbourne, Victoria, with my dear little dog Jessie. I worked in the fashion industry for years and only started writing full time when I was forced into early retirement. I love to line dance, walk my dog and spend time with my friends and family--all pastimes that get me away from the computer for a short time each week.

Tricia: Well, I already answered part of that question above. Once I'd retired and recovered from the nasty operation that was the reason for the early retirement I began to scribble in note books. I'd always loved writing but had never had the time to get all my ideas down. My husband—my tower of strength—insisted we buy a typewriter so I could get all these scribbles printed out. The old Remington soon got retired when he couldn't stand the click-clacking and I progressed through word-processors and upwards till he insisted on getting me a computer. The monster scared the living daylights out of me, but once mastered became my most cherished material possession. I think I should mention here that I'd never touched a keyboard in my life so had to teach myself to touch type.

Tricia: Published or contracted I have 14 novels, 1 novella, 3 short stories. My first publisher, Jacobyte Books, closed down early in the year so Blue Haze, Remy O'Shea, White Clover and Traces of Dreams (R*BY winner 03) are now in search of new publishers. Amaryllis, Designing Heart, Until Eternity, Autumn Fire, Look Into Your Heart, Shrinking Violet (R*BY 06 finalist) and Irresistible Challenge are all available at Wings ePress (www.wingsepress.com) and A Lonely Heart is due out from them in OCT 06. Tarnished Dreams and my novella Destiné are also about to be submitted to new publishers due to the closure of their publisher. White Clover and its sequel My Highland Love, are currently being considered by a publisher.

My short stories, First Love, Last Love and Love in Blossom were published in the Australian Woman's Day magazine, and Second Chance will be in the magazine about Aug/Sept 06.

I also collected, collated and edited two books of poems and short stories for the community group for whom I do volunteer work. The first, Thoughts and Feelings is now out of print but the second, More Thoughts and Feelings I self-published, so copies of this are available from me. All proceeds from both books go to RPDS (www.rpds.org.au) a program that helps disabled and housebound adults and children to reconnect with the world via the Internet using our reconditioned equipment and ongoing assistance.

Tricia: I've written historicals, contemporary, suspense, futuristic, mainstream and time-travel. So, no I definitely don't stick to one sub-genre, but all are romances. I've been advised over the years that I should try to concentrate on one sub-genre but that's not the way my muse works. I get an idea, regardless of the genre, and go with it.

Tricia: My inspiration to write comes from my readers. When someone tells me they loved my book and travelling to another time or place with my characters, that spurs me on to create another set of characters and circumstances. I'm just a story-teller who enjoys helping my readers to escape into their imaginations as I did when I was a child, and still do.

Most of my ideas have come to me around 4.30 am when I'm half awake, half in my dream world. Some ideas spring from one scene I've written at some time. I love reading Time-Travels, so the inspiration for them came from the notion of sending people back to a time when they had no mod-cons, and were faced with overwhelming obstacles to overcome. I can still recall the thrill I felt as a child when I walked into the library. There were all these worlds waiting on the shelf to be discovered by me, the reader.

Tricia: I started this book after a visit with friends to a country football match. I've never been a footy fan so it's really strange how this story evolved. I had the germ of an idea—a country girl in love with a boy from the city—so the next step was how to bring them together. What better way than to have this city type return to his roots where the girl who had a teenage crush on him, still happily resides. As always, once started the characters told me where they wanted to go. I'm just there to bring them to life on the page.

Tricia: Honestly, no. I don't believe in writers' block. We come up against obstacles at times—my main one being lack of time. Therefore, our current work gets put on the back burner. But ideas are still rolling around up there. I'm currently tutoring a creative writing class at our local University of the Third Age, and one of the things I stress to my class is that it doesn't matter what you write—just get something written. It's been said before by more talented writers than me—get the words down, even if it appears to be a load of gibberish. I always find it amazing when I read back over my work and find phrases there that I can't believe I've written.

Tricia: I give promotional talks at libraries, local church groups etc., wherever I'm invited. I sell my paperbacks there. I make bookmarks and flyers that I send out to conferences and book sellers. I've had write-ups in the local press and a couple of radio interviews.

I am a featured author at The Romance Studio (www.theromancestudio.com)

Also a page at Books We Love (http://www.bookswelove.net/MCGILL.html)

I am a member of Authors Unlimited, a group dedicated to promoting our work.

http://www.authorsunlimited.net

I have a message group for my readers where they can find out my current news.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/triciamcgill This is strictly for sending infrequent messages as I think everyone is overloaded with email these days.

I take part in on-line chats and author days as often as possible, take part in interviews and garner as many reviews as possible for my books.

Tricia: Every writer needs a website to promote themselves as well as to showcase their work. Mine is www.triciamcgill.com I use Homestead as my host as they have a great site-builder that is ideal for dummies like me. I run regular contests and have built a large reader base from these. I recently added an album of pictures of Australian scenery so that non-Aussies can see why we love our beautiful country so much.

Tricia: I found through trial and error that I'm not a morning writer. My mornings are usually filled with everyday activities anyway like line dancing, walking, bike riding, shopping, housework (UGH!!) and my community work as a volunteer. I find it harder and harder to fit everything in. The promotional work has to be tackled of course but I wish I had a secretary to take care of all that side of things so I could spend more time on the actual writing. My books have taken differing times to complete, but I would say that in proportion the first draft takes about 25% of the time and editing and re-writing the other 75%. I love that part—editing, shaping, moving, adding and deleting.

Tricia: All my Wings ePress books are best ordered through the publisher's site www.wingsepress.com There are special ordering facilities there for Australian and New Zealand buyers and the books are printed here which means less postage and shorter delivery times. They are available at fictionwise and a few other online sellers. Signed copies of the books that are currently out of print can be ordered from me via my website www.triciamcgill.com

Tricia: My goal is always to finish the book I'm working on, start another, then satisfy my readers by writing the stories they love to read. My philosophy has always been simple—make the most out of today and worry about tomorrow when it arrives, so I don't have any long-term goals as such. I'm getting too long in the tooth to plan too far ahead.

Another view of mine (I'm full of them) is, if it can't possibly be changed, don't concern yourself with it. With that in mind I just do my best and hope it's good enough to satisfy the people that matter. I'm a firm believer in Fate, Destiny, Karma, call it what you will, and if I told you about how Fate has guided me through my life you would know what I mean. But that's another story…