I was an avid reader as a child, the highlight of trips to visit family in Castlemaine was shopping at Stoneman’s bookshop. But in school I was drawn to science and actively rebelled against the texts of the English curriculum. In 6th form I had an agreement with my English teacher that I would not come to class and she and the rest of the class would get some work done. After leaving university with half a science degree I started reading again. I bought a copy of Even Cowgirls get the Blues in and Aberdeen (NSW) roadhouse and learned about Kerouac and went down the Beats rabbit hole. A woman who introduced me to many of these writers also gave me a journal one day, after I had shown her a poem I had written. I have maintained then since and now have many hundreds of journals. I started to publish poems and climbing magazines, creating Screamer and the cult zine THE. I also started submitting climbing articles and published in many of the world’s most prestiguous climbing magazines. In 2002, New Holland published my guidebook to Australia climbing: Climbing Australia: The Essential Guide. By that time I was study journalism and literature at Deakin University, where I went on to do my PhD in Literature. I have continued to publish poetry, and in 2014 I wrote a novel, The Dog Tree, for which I have been unable to find a publisher. For my full writing and publishing credits click here.