Carol Marinelli recently filled in a form asking for her job title. Thrilled to be able to put down her answer, she put writer. Then it asked what Carol did for relaxation and she put down the truth - writing. The third question asked for her hobbies. Well, not wanting to look obsessed she crossed the fingers on her hand and answered swimming but, given that the chlorine in the pool does terrible things to her highlights - I'm sure you can guess the real answer.

Michelle has always been a voracious reader and always loved to write. So it stands to reason that one day those two great loves would come together. The turning point came when she had to decide whether or not to take up a psychology honours position at university.

With her youngest child about to start kindergarten she decided to defer the honours placement and penned three chapters of what was to become her first completed novel and sent it out into the slush pile at Harlequin Mills and Boon. She then did a 10 day Vipassana retreat and sat down to write more stories.

The Vipassana retreat was instrumental in Michelle's journey from dream writer to published author because when the editors at Mills and Boon requested the full manuscript of “Girl Behind the Scandalous Reputation” she was – after many years of self-doubt – finally in the right headspace to take up the challenge and pursue a life-long dream.

What followed was a marvellous roller coaster of a journey where she learnt that there is more to being a writer than the romantic notion of finishing up a wonderfully productive morning at the computer and then swanning along the Seine with a glass of vin rouge, a smile and roasting chestnuts on every street corner!

One of my more fantastical notions of the writer's life… Possibly driven by the fact that she's read Hemmingway's A Moveable Feast way too many times and not because she lives in Paris. In fact, she lives 15,000 kilometres from Paris! Before writing full time Michelle studied at the University of Melbourne and then at Monash University, worked on a myriad of different careers and travelled extensively.

She currently lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and three children, a Siamese cat and three chickens. When she's not writing Michelle reads, watches movies, thinks about exercise and spends time with her family. She writes sexy, contemporary romance novels with strong heroes and sassy, modern heroines they can't resist.