No, this picture is not me!  It is only what I WISH I looked like.

In fact it is our heroine Katie, worried about whether she should accept Sam.

Sam is trying to convince her he will be loyal despite his very busy past.

G'day!

I am a South Australian writer, writing from the driest state in the driest continent in the world (unless you count Antarctica, and that's not fair, there's so much ice there surely it can't count as dry?).  That is why I have painted Australia in desert colors, even though I am living in very comfortable Adelaide.

Here we are hot when people in the northern hemisphere are cold.

I have worked and volunteered all my life. Even when we lived in the United States, I volunteered at the schools and Girl Scouts (we call them Girl Guides in Australia) and choir and soccer. Back home in Australia, I have done everything from office jobs to lecturing although I started life as a farm girl.

I really like cooking (and eating!) and the whole family likes my pavlovas so I have included a picture of one I decorated as a Christmas tree to make you hungry.

I also love puzzles and computer games, and over the years I have had to be very disciplined and remove them from the computer (i.e. temptation). I loaded up Bubbles just to show you. In the interests of getting anything done today, I have already uninstalled it from my phone. Sudoku is another weakness I have to stay away from, and every morning I do Wordle, for which I have a 100% win rate. If this changes, I will update this website page. Or die in shame, whichever happens first.

From this you may have inferred I love playing with words. I have studied writing up to post-graduate level (no, I do not have a doctorate). I include a picture of one of my over-stuffed bookcases.

I can't help teaching. It always seems terrible to me if people don't know things that I could so easily explain. In US elementary schools I taught about Australia, in both US and Australia I tutored high school children in maths, and in Australia I showed tertiary students how to write essays.

Finally, of course, I love Australia and Australian people. When I lived in the US I was fascinated by our similarities and differences. I hope you enjoy my Aussie Guards series which is set in the beautiful Adelaide Hills of South Australia.

If you would like to contact me downunder, my email address is author@sheilastrine.com.

For keener readers (!) I have set up a Patreon at https://patreon.com/SheilaStrine so we can discuss aspects of the stories or the writing. Members will be directed to a discord server with topics organized into channels. For example, in the #covers channel, I explain how I made the covers using 3D models. Patreon members also have access to a small collection of short stories set in the wider world of Aussie Guards.