Felicity

I have two names: Louise Curtis and Felicity Bloomfield. The reason for the multiple identity is that I'm a writer - since I write anything from children's books to vicious crime, I need a way to protect my younger readers. For that reason, Louise Curtis is G or PG-rated, and Felicity Bloomfield writes for adults. Both personas have stories online, and others around the world.

My nature dictates that I can't survive on just food and shelter and friendship - I need my work to be meaningful too. From the age of twelve to twenty-four I planned to be a full-time volunteer aid worker in Indonesia, and I visited half a dozen times as well as studying the language and culture.

Then I became mentally ill with an anxiety disorder, and realised I couldn't go. The strangest part was that I was glad - I'd been writing stories even longer than I'd been training to go to Indonesia - I'd just never thought of my writing as a real job.
I've written eleven books altogether, and I'm currently working on a twitter story told in real time – with pirates.

My definition for success for 2020 women

I'd love to see equal pay, and an equal number of house-husbands and house-wives (as much for men's sake as for women's).

I'd like to see gay couples having the same rights as married couples.

I'd like to see girls mucking up in schools as much as boys, and getting told off just as often.

I'd like to see political correctness become irrelevant. What a world that would be!

And I'd like poverty to be an obsolete word.

The important people in my life

My husband, Chris

We met at a pirate ball, and I liked him after twenty minutes of conversation. Unfortunately, I was dressed as Jack Sparrow - including a beard. I invited him to my writing group, and we never ran out of conversation. We have now been married six months. He's taught me by example how to live a peaceful life. And he doesn't see me as a burden.

The doctor on the Young Endeavour sail training vessel – I forget his name!

Life can be fun

I love adventure, and I write about pirates, so I was thrilled to get a place on the Young Endeavour. Only two problems: I hate the outdoors, and I need my sleep. Also, I hadn't realised yet that I had an anxiety disorder, and I couldn't understand why it was so difficult to be in a room with other people. But the doctor obviously loved every moment. We stood together in the hideous New Zealand rain hauling on a rope and he laughed for joy and said, "Why would you do anything if it wasn't fun?" 

A series of counsellors

It's okay to ask for help

They've all helped me understand what's happening in my head, and how to rebuild my life.

How I deal with adversity

I believe in God, so I know at least one friend understands what's happening - and why. I also believe I'm designed to make a difference in a way that satisfies my deepest desires.

Finally, I believe in myself, and my determination - with good reason. Even when I want to give up, I can't. If I spend more than a few days away from my writing, I get antsy. So it takes more discipline to stop writing than to just keep going.

Whether through my twitter tale or through conventional publication, I know I'll get somewhere eventually.

More about my life

When I was nine years old my mum asked me how I felt about the idea of our whole family going to work as volunteers (with the Summer Institute of Linguistics) in Papua New Guinea. Friends of mine had told me I'd be killed if I went (and of course I believed them). But I thought it was the right thing to do, so I said I wanted to go.

Many years later, the same passionate determination gets poured into my writing day by day. One side-effect of my mental illness is that I am literally unable to work in a job I don't love and believe in.

Instead of being an overseas aid worker, I can use my years of travel to invent a detailed and unique fantasy world, Rahana, in which most of my stories are based.

It eats at me that my books aren't published, since there's no point writing something wonderful that isn't read. But in my saner moments I'm at peace, knowing it's only a matter of time before all my work begins to pay off and make the world a better place. I have also "retired" five of my eleven books - they were just practice! It turns out that writing well takes just as much training as any other profession.