When I said I no longer wanted to be a painter, that I wanted to be an actor, the first thing I did was get a stinking job in an insurance building.

Anyway, when I was a kid, I dutifully went to the Sydney Technical and Fine Arts College.

When people think it's successful, I'm grateful. When they don't - OK, I'll try again.

I suddenly realized how much I loved her when we attended Alfred Hitchcock's 75th birthday party last August. There was something magical about that night, and it made me see how much she really meant to me.

I have done everything in my life very normally. And marriage is definitely there on my agendas in life. But I don't know when will it happen.

The hero of a mainstream stand-alone novel can get by with things the hero of a sweet traditional category romance wouldn't dream of doing.

My final historical romance came out December 2005. While I enjoyed writing medieval romances, I was also dying to write something with more edge.

Looking back now, thinking about that moment in the lights, with my heart pounding, Oscar in my hand, all I can say is I am grateful and humbled - still to this day. Next to marrying my husband and the birth of my children, it is one of the best days ever.