My first novel Indelible Scars is currently being professionally edited and I am planning to start the search for a literary agent and publisher in 2014. I have already submitted it to a professional manuscript critique service and I was pleasantly surprised by the positive feedback. It is surprising how scary it can be, having worked on a manuscript for several years, to finally put it out there to be scrutinized, and potentially massacred, by a stranger. I am more than relieved to learn that I can write a compelling story that someone else may want to read. I realize, however, that this is just the first step and that finding a publisher is no mean feat.

So what is Indelible Scars all about? The novel tells the story of Joe.

Joe is young and idealistic, with a thirst for adventure and desire to make a difference in the world. When given the opportunity to travel to East Timor as an aid worker, he jumps at the chance, with no inkling of the dangers and dilemmas that await him.

 He is plunged into a world of atrocities and mass graves, where confronting human cruelty becomes an everyday occurrence. Yet wounds closer to home begin to haunt him and Joe soon realizes that his biggest challenge is not dealing with the horrors of Timor but with a much more personal threat. Under mounting pressure, he must choose:

to protect himself or protect another;

to tell the truth or live a lie;

 to hide the scars or let them heal.

Why is it set in East Timor? Well, I worked there for Oxfam in 1999/2000 and it was possibly the most rewarding experience of my life. Living conditions were hard (I slept on a concrete floor for 6 months, had no electricity and no fridge) but the Timorese I worked with and beauty of the country were compelling.

Where did the inspiration for the novel come from? I wanted to combine the experience of being an aid worker in Timor with the experience of living through a dysfunctional relationship – a strange combination perhaps but one which throws up conflicts and questions concerning what matters most in life.

The central thesis of the book is that we are inevitably moulded by negative experiences in our past, and the scars may never heal completely, but we can choose to overcome them and draw strength from them, or we can choose to cling to them and become defined by them.

More on the dysfunctional relationship later…..