After a long stint of short-story writing, Ann came out with the third book, a fiction novel – Mail Order Bride. The story, set in Auckland, New Zealand, touches on social issues such as teenage pregnancies, drugs, paedophile and the like. The book took two months to finish.
Ann does not intend to make money out of her books, saying: “I consider all the attention I got from the newspapers and television as just a bonus.”
“My dream was to go places. Dad used to go to England – we always knew he went to England. We were taught if we wanted to go places, we got to work hard.”
Ann graduated with a bachelor’s degree (economics) in Canada in 1975 and three years later (1978) went to Auckland for her second economics degree and a diploma in management. There, she met her husband and in 1990, the family moved to Singapore before shifting back in Auckland in 2006.
Ann, who considers herself a “freedom writer,” said she self-published all her books as she liked having the freedom to write what she wanted. Proof readers and professional editors were all the help she got.
“I call myself a freedom writer because whatever I do, I am not bound by rules.”
Her advice to aspiring writers is to have “patience, plan, persistence, perseverance and imagination.”
“You got to have a plan and a target and try to follow them through. That’s what I did,” added Ann who is also a public speaker.
She said she never wasted “any precious time” when writing her books and would usually spend more than eight hours a day putting her ideas into words.
“When the inspiration comes, never try to ignore it. Instead, put your plan into work and write it down. Writing is all about passion but you have to be disciplined if you want to be a successful writer,” she advised.
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