ABOUT | kimmhorwood

"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing" - Benjamin Franklin

At nine I wanted to write like Enid Blyton, especially after I read The Fabulous Four. By ten I was reading The Hardy Boys, Donna Parker and Trixie Belden, so I dreamed of writing a book series. Murder-Mysteries were my thing (my mother's influence), so by twelve I wanted to be Agatha Christie, but by fourteen my world was all about Judy Blume. Surprisingly, I don't write the Murder-Mysteries I mostly loved to read. Now that I’m grown (kind of), I’m inspired by homegrown writers like Michael Gerard Bauer, Cass Moriarty, Frances Whiting, and Trent Dalton. It's not a coincidence that these writers are all Australian and Brisbane-based. I believe in supporting local talent. (My husband wanted me to say he has been my greatest influence, but he’s really a groupie who brings me coffee and chocolate.)

In Grade 5, Mr Higgins would throw random story topics at me when I’d finished my work. It ignited a crush (not on Mr Higgins), on writing, that continued until I discovered boys. When my first love was killed in a car accident at 17, writing saved me from suffocating in grief. From those dark hours, emerged the beginnings of a Young Adult Fiction manuscript with magic realism and teen romance themes. Like Bryce Courtenay and 'The Power of One', I am using it as a doorstop until I'm ready for a publisher to pry it from my fingers.

I like to write about relationships, love and loss, about coming of age, our connectedness and our weird lives, and stuff that's distinctly Australian. I'm currently working on a contemporary Young Adult Fiction manuscript about broken relationships, family secrets, and how we hurt the ones we love the most, even when we don’t mean to. The habits created by Mr Higgins' Grade 5 class never left me, so I also write short stories and children's stories.

Raised an army brat, I put down roots in Brisbane’s north-west, married a nice man who thinks I’m funny and had four children who don’t think I’m funny. Having recently become a grandmother, I am Mimi to the most perfect little human in the universe, who finds me mildly funny - especially when I sing. Based on that, I'll stick to writing.