Maria S McDonald was born in Jakarta, Indonesia in the early hours of 11 May, 1980, of Chinese heritage. She grew up in this third-world, turbulent country until I was 15, before her parents decided to migrate to Australia due to the rising political unrest between native Indonesians and Chinese Indonesians, not only in capital city, but other parts of Indonesia.Maria recalled having had a tendency to write from a very early age. She has kept a journal since primary school, and has secretly squealed when teachers asked the class to write a paragraph/page recounting her holidays (or any other topic, really…). Though this love somewhat diminished when she was faced with writing x-thousand word essays on much ‘duller’ topics whilst completing her Bachelor of Business (Communication) degree, it has instilled in her the importance of research, and this is something she has strived to do to write certain aspects of her novels.
In late 2006, Maria decided to pick up a pen and paper to write down a vivid dream that wouldn’t leave her head It was Wednesday. By Saturday evening, she had written in excess of 15,000 words – by far the longest essay Maria had voluntarily written.
From then on, pen(s) and paper have become some of the permanent items accompanying Maria… EVERYWHERE! She tries, as best as she could, to write regularly, even if it is just a few minutes between the time she finishes getting ready for work and before she bolts out of the front door; or when she’s preparing dinner, waiting for the meat to turn brown; at one stage, she would even do this with her husband sitting across from her in their favourite restaurant, waiting for the food they’ve ordered to arrive (something that her husband is relieved when she got out of the habit).
Fast forward 5 years later, Maria has written the first draft to 6 novels.
Writing in all its forms…
Maria maintains full-time work as Communication & Facilities Coordinator for a P-12 College. When she isn’t having a love affair with pen and paper, she is busy writing marketing plans for and articles about the College to local newspapers. She also coordinates with the groundsmen’s to keep the College grounds and facilities in immaculate condition.
Of course, it goes without saying that she loves spending quality time with her husband and her beautiful, ageing Jack Russell named ‘Sasha’.
