(For work info, please click on the link to my biography, on the left <--- <----<-----)

Otherwise, this is where I tell you a little about me, in the hope that you understand who I am and what my work is all about.

In a nutshell, I am a mother of three and I write both books, newspaper/magazine features and blogs about motherhood, parenting, family life and other such wrinkle-enhancing matters. I also do a lot of broadcast work on various TV and radio programmes, which is something I really love doing.

I had children very young: I was 23 when Emily came along - almost still a child myself! It wasn't ever in my Life Plan to marry and start a family so young, but there it is: it happened that way and I'm very glad that it did. There's no 'right' time to have a baby. We just need to make sure they are healthy, happy and loved, whenever they come along.

MY WRITING

I wrote my first book after three pregnancies where I couldn't find a single book about motherhood which didn't make me feel a) inadequate, b) terrified and c) very depressed about being pregnant. It was all "you will now be really blooming" (I wasn't) and "your baby now weighs 5lbs and can suck its thumb". (I didn't care - I wanted to know why I still felt exhausted and sick!)

I wanted something funny, intelligent and honest, which spoke to me as a rapidly expanding woman, confused and frightened of the changes she was going through, and who felt she was the only one making a complete pig's ear of it. Most of all I wanted something which didn't look like a pregnancy book: you know, the ones with a gigantic, pregnant belly on the front just for added sex appeal.

No book like this existed. And so I wrote it myself.

It became an instant best-seller, proving that I was not alone after all, and that thousands of other women also found pregnancy and motherhood a struggle to identify with, and wanted help.

The whole Yummy Mummy thing is something I've found very frustrating, as it's a term that seems to have caused much confusion and misunderstanding. My friends all know how down to Earth I am, but for those who don't.....I don't have manicures; I don't have a facialist, a personal trainer or a nanny, nor ever have. I put Yummy Mummy in the title of my books, to make you feel better about your self. Not to make anyone feel under pressure to look like a supermodel, obviously. Some people got it. Others didn't. It's up to you to read it and decide.

My blog should give you a good sense of what my life is generally like and I really hope you will read my books and make a judgement about them for yourself. If I had my way I would re-write large chunks of them and take out much of the product placement, but I can't so I'll have to live with it. Oh well!
My advice is always very straight-forward, non-prescriptive and based on pure common sense and the fact that every woman is different and every child is too. There are of course really important basics we all need to try and get right, but beyond that you have to find what works for you and your family, and just do the best you can.

We ALL mess bits of it up - it's just part of the job of being a parent!