Um, tell us about yourself and how you came to write books.

Uh, well, my story's not the most happiest of, of stories.

Uh, I love being an Australian, I love being in Sydney, but there's a lot of, uh, you know, family drama and everything, I think sometimes in, um, in a p- in a person's life.

[laughs] I lo- You know, it's so funny, 'cause I listen to you guys, your, your episodes and, um, I feel like almost every author has some kind of like, "I was bored," or J.L. Swan, like, "I just, I, I stopped writing at 17, and then I wanted to pull all the books out of my garage," and they have something like that.

Whereas for me, like, I, I was like, uh, I didn't have the best upbringing, so, um, for me it was like books were an escape.

They were just the place I would go.

Like, I would hide myself in the, in my school library, or i- it's like anywhere I could get a book, like, I just used it to escape, 'cause there was nothing else really that I could do.

[laughs]

Is that subliminal suggestion?

No, I sat on this secret for months before I finally felt like I could tell him and it was I burst into tears cause I, it was such a big deal to me.

And the reason why I did kept this secret was because I was scared of finally saying it and then it being real.

Um, and then when I did and I just like burst into tears in front of him, he just like, all he did was just gather me up and say like, you know, if, if all, if you had just told me a few months ago when this was happening, I could have supported you through it.

And I have learned from that now.

And you think, does come up or continue on like i i have no reason to be afraid of sharing it with him so the well-intentioned secret sometimes they can really damage a relationship but sometimes they can make them stronger i think it depends on what the secret actually is whether or not it's something that a complete betrayal of trust or if it's a health issue and you're trying to protect your loved one from it, I'm sure they're going to come from a place of like love and understanding and support when you do eventually find out.

Because sometimes I think a lot of us just need to take the time to process what's going on in our lives before we share it.

And so you're like, what the heck?