|
Autobiography
of Vena McGrath
Author, Secrets, Lies & Chat. Director of Megasec
Online Pty Ltd
7 November 2004
Vena
was born in a private hospital at Parramatta, Sydney
Australia, at the conclusion of the Second World War,
the third child of working class parents. Her eldest
brother passed away before she was born after coming
into the world with defects caused by her mother having
contracted German measles during the early stages
of her pregnancy. Her mother had a breakdown before
he passed away and never really recovered in some
ways. She therefore grew up 'in her father's pocket',
his princess till the day he passed away. Her relationship
with her father, and the closeness they had, set the
scene for how she would feel about men during her
life. Vena is blessed to have two sons that she adores
and a daughter who is loved dearly. She is also blessed
to have a sweet granddaughter, a treasure, now aged
ten.
Vena
grew up in what would be regarded today as a dysfunctional
family; her surviving brother and mother were great
friends and her father and Vena were great friends.
She never had closeness with her mother, something
Vena regretted always and she ensured that her daughter
would never feel about her. Vena's mother did however
teach all the things a female had to know growing
up in the fifties/sixties with the exception of real
life things such as relationships and, heaven forbid
you ever used the word …. Sex. Her father didn't
do much re that subject either. It seemed to be taboo.
Vena learned everything from friends. She remembers
in high school thinking you could become pregnant
from kissing. Oh the innocence of those kept in the
mushroom patch!
Her
life was basic, but because Vena's father was a motor
mechanic she was always out and about of a weekend
in the car, and had lots of holidays. They were one
of the few families that owned a car. Somehow Vena
managed to obtain an Intermediate Certificate in spite
of some of her teachers shaking their heads and deciding
she would fail their subjects. She recalls cramming
for days and nights before the exams because she was
under the threat of having to repeat if she failed.
Once school was over Vena opted to go to Secretarial
School full-time for another year because it was all
she wanted to do. There was little scope for females
in the early sixties to do much with their lives except
work in an office, a chemist, a dentist or doctor's
surgery, a bank or become a nurse. She did a year
and then applied to sit for the Public Service examination
in Sydney. She passed the exam, was interviewed and
started working as a stenographer for the NSW Police
Department at Headquarters in the CBD of Sydney at
age sixteen.
She
resigned from the Public Service when eighteen and
worked for a few months as secretary in a private
company before going to work for her father as secretary
of his company. At twenty Vena was married and gave
up work to raise a family. She returned to the workforce
fourteen years later as a secretary and has worked
either full-time or as a temp ever since.
Her
adventure into the world of writing came late in life
due mainly to the fact that she could never see herself
writing fiction, and her life didn't seem to be interesting
enough to write about, except for her children. Vena
always read books, even as a child, and could never
have enough of them to feed her appetite. She wanted
to write, and thought about it often. Vena decided
to write her life story for her children, or adults
as they were by this time. In this time she was divorced
and living in her own home and sharing a mortgage
with her eldest son. It was 1997. Her son owned a
computer and she used the word processor to write.
He eventually moved out and Vena bought herself a
computer in June 1999. That's when her adventure online
commenced. The story she started to write in 1997
for her family, is far from complete; it became lost
amongst all the other things that came into her life.
She
found online chat rooms without even looking for them.
She wandered in for a look and stayed. Vena became
addicted very quickly; and had found somewhere to
spend her alone times of a night where she could have
fun, meet people anonymously, and learn about computers.
Vena was very 'green' and knew very little besides
word processing. She had rarely surfed the internet
and chat saved her from having to do that in order
to find something interesting to spend her time doing.
Chat became a crutch for her and she grooved right
into this new social medium she stumbled upon. She
had been separated/divorced at that stage for 11 years
and during those years men, other than family and
friends, held no interest for her. And yet here she
was, online in a chat room, enjoying the flirting
and participating in it. Over a three year period
from September 1999 to January 2003 she became involved
with a number of men she met online first, either
in the chat rooms or via online dating services.
And
that involvement in chat brought her to where she
is today. An Australian author with her first book
being published in the USA and to be released worldwide
during the first quarter of 2005! Because of the way
Vena has written the manuscript the book has been
classified fiction/romance based on the author's real
life, those three years of chat. Since writing her
manuscript and being offered a contract, she has moved
into other areas of writing. Vena has written a few
short stories - yes she did attempt fiction and enjoyed
the journey immensely. She has had articles published
online and has two press opportunities in Sydney.
One was an article in the SMH titled The Net Effect
and the other is in a NSW Government newspaper titled
Communique. Numerous letters to editors and comments
on stories in newspapers online have seen her portfolio
of activities grow, and into other areas besides chat
online and online dating. Her short stories, articles
and emails are there on her website
as well as published on Authors Den, www.authorsden.com/venamcgrath.
She also has an online press interview that can be
read on www.mediaman.com.au
Vena
applied for and was accepted as an expert on chat
online with www.AllExperts.com
and discussions are underway with Jayne Hitchcock,
author and cybercop, re the possibility that she could
join the other advocates around the world in efforts
to educate people and make them aware of the very
real dangers of the Internet.
Her
agent in Australia is Greg Tingle of Media Man Australia,
and thanks to Greg, she has had a high profile on
search engines on the net for some weeks now. Her
work has just begun with the manuscript with the printer.
The hard slog begins of gaining exposure, and making
this all work to the very best advantage that she
can, not only for herself but also hopefully for a
lot of other people who may become educated about
the Internet through Vena's words.
2005
will be an exciting year, one of adventure, learning,
and hopefully, a growing self-confidence for her.
Websites
Secrets,
Lies & Chat
Secrets,
Lies & Chat blogger
Author's
Den - Vena McGrath
WHOA
- Working To Halt Online Abuse
Media
Man Australia
Books
and Authors
Online
Shop
Stalkers
|
