DWC 100 Women: Phillipa Nefri Clark, USA Today Bestselling Author
“I realised I could reach my secret dream of becoming a full-time author.”
Many people think I’m privileged, and some even say I must have had it all handed to me because appearances are deceiving, and I keep my personal life… personal. The reality is far from that, and I hope by lifting the curtain a little that others may be encouraged to follow their dreams and never give up on themselves.
Growing up happened quickly. With two disabled younger brothers, a father whose peculiar spiritual beliefs and classes were more important than bringing a steady income home, and a mother addicted to prescription drugs, there wasn’t much of a childhood. Without going into painful details, there was substantial abuse.
Their divorce was a good thing in many respects, but it left me virtually running things as a young teen. At fourteen, my mother found a way to get me permanently out of school. I’d already had teachers want to fast-track me to higher education, but instead, I was working full-time to support three other people. I still feel inadequate for not finishing school.
I had no idea my life wasn’t ‘normal’. We had always moved from house to house when rent wasn’t paid, and I remember coming home from school once as a younger child to find everyone gone again.
This continued even after I was working because my mother believed there’d always be something better ahead. She did nothing to change her life and would sabotage anything good which did come my way. Before the divorce, my big sister from another mother disappeared from my life, thankfully to a safer place.
It took until my early twenties to make a break and several years more before I understood the control still being wielded over me through guilt.
I actually moved to another country and began to grow as a human, drawn to the performing arts and being accepted for who I was. But the emotional manipulation intensified, and after a few years, I returned and hit rock bottom.
The one good thing in my life since being a small child was the need to write stories. This sustained me over all of those difficult years, and through the love of friends and the man who became my husband, I found my way out of the past.
After my second child was born, I finally cut ties with my mother. I found out that my father had passed away several years prior and began searching for his daughter – my sister.
Imagine my joy when we reunited close to forty years after being separated! She lives on the opposite side of the world and has a grown family, and we are in each other’s hearts.
While my children were young, I began to write in earnest, and because novels took a lot of focus, I turned to writing screenplays. I completed five, one of which was optioned at one point, before adapting another into what would become the novel of The Stationmaster’s Cottage.
From the first concept to publication, it was some fifteen years! Between working and running a household and other commitments, writing was done in spare moments or by being up very early or writing late at night. After taking so long, I wasn’t interested in waiting years for a traditional publisher, so with the help of my oldest son, I self-published.
For some reason, this story of mine appealed to a wide audience and not only were readers asking for more in the same world, but traditional publishers were interested. I wrote the next book in nine months. Then, two more in the next year. The more I wrote, the faster I became because it was as though a tap was turned on.
By now, I was making a little money in royalties and realised I could reach my secret dream of becoming a full-time author.
It took around four years and more books until I could say goodbye to my day job. I spent all of that time gradually reducing my paid employment and increasing my writing hours.
There have been so many challenges. One is the attitude of some people about self-publishing, which is weird because we don’t care if a musician or filmmaker is indie. I have a little team of editors and cover designers who I work with, and I am so proud that I can support other women this way.
I signed a traditional contract last year for a new series, back in my original world. I love working with my publisher, but I will never give up writing my indie books. Although it took a lifetime, for the most part, my life is good.
I’m an Australian author of more than thirty fiction titles, a USA Today bestseller who makes a full-time living writing the stories I love. I’m debt-free. And most importantly, I have a loving family.
Many people think I’m privileged, and some even say I must have had it all handed to me because appearances are deceiving, and I keep my personal life… personal. The reality is far from that, and I hope by lifting the curtain a little that others may be encouraged to follow their dreams and never give up on themselves.
Growing up happened quickly. With two disabled younger brothers, a father whose peculiar spiritual beliefs and classes were more important than bringing a steady income home, and a mother addicted to prescription drugs, there wasn’t much of a childhood. Without going into painful details, there was substantial abuse.
Their divorce was a good thing in many respects, but it left me virtually running things as a young teen. At fourteen, my mother found a way to get me permanently out of school. I’d already had teachers want to fast-track me to higher education, but instead, I was working full-time to support three other people. I still feel inadequate for not finishing school.
I had no idea my life wasn’t ‘normal’. We had always moved from house to house when rent wasn’t paid, and I remember coming home from school once as a younger child to find everyone gone again.
This continued even after I was working because my mother believed there’d always be something better ahead. She did nothing to change her life and would sabotage anything good which did come my way. Before the divorce, my big sister from another mother disappeared from my life, thankfully to a safer place.
It took until my early twenties to make a break and several years more before I understood the control still being wielded over me through guilt.
I actually moved to another country and began to grow as a human, drawn to the performing arts and being accepted for who I was. But the emotional manipulation intensified, and after a few years, I returned and hit rock bottom.
The one good thing in my life since being a small child was the need to write stories. This sustained me over all of those difficult years, and through the love of friends and the man who became my husband, I found my way out of the past.
After my second child was born, I finally cut ties with my mother. I found out that my father had passed away several years prior and began searching for his daughter – my sister.
Imagine my joy when we reunited close to forty years after being separated! She lives on the opposite side of the world and has a grown family, and we are in each other’s hearts.
While my children were young, I began to write in earnest, and because novels took a lot of focus, I turned to writing screenplays. I completed five, one of which was optioned at one point, before adapting another into what would become the novel of The Stationmaster’s Cottage.
From the first concept to publication, it was some fifteen years! Between working and running a household and other commitments, writing was done in spare moments or by being up very early or writing late at night. After taking so long, I wasn’t interested in waiting years for a traditional publisher, so with the help of my oldest son, I self-published.
For some reason, this story of mine appealed to a wide audience and not only were readers asking for more in the same world, but traditional publishers were interested. I wrote the next book in nine months. Then, two more in the next year. The more I wrote, the faster I became because it was as though a tap was turned on.
By now, I was making a little money in royalties and realised I could reach my secret dream of becoming a full-time author.
It took around four years and more books until I could say goodbye to my day job. I spent all of that time gradually reducing my paid employment and increasing my writing hours.
There have been so many challenges. One is the attitude of some people about self-publishing, which is weird because we don’t care if a musician or filmmaker is indie. I have a little team of editors and cover designers who I work with, and I am so proud that I can support other women this way.
I signed a traditional contract last year for a new series, back in my original world. I love working with my publisher, but I will never give up writing my indie books. Although it took a lifetime, for the most part, my life is good.
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