From illiterate to author, a thirty year dream becomes a reality.

A victim of bulling and molestation as a child, Christine Jones could not concentrate on classroom activities. Escaping into the imagination was a way of survival for her. Though she wrote stories, they were scribble, lacking proper grammar, punctuation and spelling. Persistence and help from her own children and writer's sites enabled Christine to perfect her writing ability. She believes if children were encouraged to write their true thoughts without judgment or fear of punishment, it would see less illiteracy and other issues being hidden. It would also enable adults to pick up on problems more easily than trying to get a child to verbalise what they fear or are experiencing.

I feel I’m an example of this strategy, Christine says. My journey from illiterate to author could have been reached sooner if I’d not felt the need to hide my problems and go it alone. Talking can be intimidating to children and even adults, especially with people they don’t know and can be even harder to convey to those you love. Throughout my life I have so many times scribbled down thoughts on paper then screwed them up, as I personally felt I had no one to give them to and no one who would understand. Depending on my mood, the scribbles could be considered quite disturbing and even offensive; nonetheless, it was my way of letting off steam, fears, hurts etc. You also learn how to hide illiteracy and your emotions well, which in my case led to going it alone and taking a good twenty years to perfect my writing. I can now turn a 400 page sentence into a viable book. I might be writing fiction, but my life story and lessons learnt can be found throughout all my books in one form or another. A councilor once told me I had experienced what others would not see in three life times. I see myself as a survivor, not a victim and everything is for a reason. I'm a great believer of; this is a journey of healing, learning and greater understanding, not a journey of punishment.

In one month Christine has published ‘Signature for Sunshine’, ‘Aus Com’, ‘Died and moved in’ and ‘The Snakelex Report’. Though she is multi genre, her pride and joy are the Mariard volumes, having completed 7 of the 10 books. Science fiction fantasy, ‘Mariard Volume 1 The Gifting’ was scribbled out over 20 years ago, released February 2008. Mariard Volume 2 Glass pawns will be out in March 2008.