[4] She has lived in various parts of New Zealand, including Auckland, Oamaru, Christchurch and Dunedin as well as in San Diego, California.

[4] She works as a literary agent and manuscript assessor with Chris Else[10] who is also a writer, as is her daughter Emma Neale.

[12] Her first novel The Warrior Queen was shortlisted for the Montana New Zealand Book Awards.

[15] She delivered the Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal Lecture, titled "Making it up as I go along, or Finding the Cornerstones of Creativity", on 3 April 2016.

[16][17] She also delivered the Margaret Mahy Memorial Lecture at the WORD Christchurch Writers & Readers Festival in 2018.