Having written so many poems in my life, I am very tempted to write this as one too: a life in brief, a ‘snapshot’ of me. Having said that, there’s already a lot of my poetry on this site, so in the interests of full disclosure and also not short-changing my readers: here goes!
In the age of instant gratification, Instagramming everything and hashtagging life, and despite over three decades as a PR and media liaison who’s very comfortable with the written and spoken word – and helps clients to be comfortable with them too – I feel strangely shy about the process of telling my own story. Years of professional PR work ‘behind the headlines’ probably are the reason for my reticence. There – confession time over! So – about me…
As implied by my tongue-in-cheek nickname of the ‘Madonna of the Midlands’, my childhood, teenage and young adulthood were spent in and around my home towns of Hilton and Pietermaritzburg, and the gracious green enclave of the Natal Midlands.
The youngest of a strong, intellectual and incredibly talented, highly individualistic family – somewhat reminiscent of the eccentric Durrells of ‘My Family and Other Animals’ fame (which we incidentally grew up reading), I quickly fell in love with the sound, shape, form, power and beauty of words and communication.
My late father, widely acknowledged as one of the most brilliant legal minds of his time, but who was also fun and could have given Action Man a run for his money, took us to the Seychelles when I was eight. We spent three weeks sailing from one exotic island to another, and I remember telling my parents that to me, the ocean looked just like a lady’s dark blue velvet skirt and the waves like snowy white lace edging…In love with adjectives and descriptions, even from an early age!
Later on at high school, I was the pupil my Maths teacher dreaded – infamous for outspoken questions like ‘why is Pi square not round?’, much to the somewhat mocking hilarity of my classmates! Conversely, my English teachers dreaded when I was off sick – and so did those same classmates – as there’d be no-one to enthusiastically answer every question or help write their essays!
My late mother, a highly intelligent if unusual and individual person, who saw herself as a ‘kingmaker’ and strove to inculcate this same quirky brand of individualism in her only daughter, also loved the English language and encouraged my linguistic abilities and my writing from a young age.
After a first brief and unsuccessful brush with marriage at the tender age of twenty, it was she who insisted I pursue my tertiary English Literature studies, which I did. A few bursaries and awards followed, as my love of words grew even stronger. Sadly however, I didn’t finish a full-time degree due to financial constraints at the time.
Those same constraints did however necessitate a job with a small but busy PR agency in Pietermaritzburg. I still remember the spark of excitement when I realised I could write commercially for clients and make money! And so the forerunner of my current PR agency was born back in 1992 – ‘Words Unlimited’ – a name my mother delightedly came up with.
One of my first jobs was writing brochure copy for a flamboyant estate agent who was Pietermaritzburg’s answer to Richard Branson at the time. This engendered a keen interest in property development and ownership, which I still have to this day. He also taught me that people who really know how to work successfully with money use the bank’s – the well-known rule of property gearing – ‘OPM’ or ‘other people’s money’!
Fast-forward some thirty years and where and who am I today? The key headlines are: loved and lost a few times in my youthful (and not-so-youthful) race around the romance mulberry bush. In between all that, I held several senior PR and communications jobs, which took me all over South Africa and the world. I moved provinces, married a second time after nearly 20 years, was never blessed with children but with many wonderful cats, have a lovely home in a great community up here in Johannesburg, South Africa, and my own boutique PR and communications agency.
The real ‘key messaging’ though lies in the fact that words are still my first love, my stock-in-trade, my ‘go-to’ happy place and my heartland…My alpha and my omega: the very essence of what drives me, what delights me…My hundreds of beloved books (which I frequently re-read) are like trusted friends to whose caring embrace and companionship I can return at any time I want. So words, reading and writing are very much my lifeblood. Not just what I’ve done all my adult life in my career: my raison d’être. I also adore the English countryside and I love travelling to the UK – and anywhere else I can. I love my husband and my home but I’m a typical Sagittarian: gregarious, independent, love to travel and don’t like restrictive ties. I’m very sociable, thoroughly enjoy entertaining friends at home while You Tubing music around a braai or a cosy fire in Winter.
I also adore flowers (I’ve done advanced floristry as a hobby), bright colours and property programmes on TV. I’m an ardent Royalist and Anglophile. And yes – like everyone – I took major strain during the lockdown. ‘Covert’ Covid certainly took us all by very nasty surprise, and 2020 was a real exercise in hope and faith just pushing through.
The bottom line is that the pandemic was a powerful reminder that we all need communication and the healing power of words – in unprecedented tough times and in good times. So, at the same time as I am bringing the long-held dream of completing my first novel to fruition, I’ve finally taken a personal quantum leap by launching this poetry, writing and blog site. In so doing, I hope to reach out to fellow writers and lovers of the written word…To those, too, who maybe don’t write but love to read. To reach people everywhere who can read my poetry, blogs or vignettes and feel a spark of connection: that ‘wow’ moment of recognition, when something jumps out at you and means that I, as the writer, have reached out through my writing and connected with you.
The best writers I’ve read are all in evidence in my life: on my bedside table, and in the groaning bookshelves my long-suffering husband yearns to declutter one day soon. I humbly aspire through my words and writing, to occupy a similar place of warm familiarity in your lives someday.
For the love of wondrous words and with warm thanks to my late mother Rusty and father Peter, my beloved husband Marc, my brothers Cameron Warwick and Tristram and their families around the world (my wonderful sister-in-laws, nieces and nephews), my many great friends and finally, to the One who gave me my talents, such as they are,
With Love,
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