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Autobiography
of Vena McGrath - (version 2)
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, as a result
of birth defects. Before his death, her mother suffered
a breakdown, and never really recovered emotionally.
Vena 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 feels blessed to have two sons 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 she and her father were great friends.
She never had any real closeness with her mother,
something she regretted always. She made a promise
to herself that her daughter would never have cause
to feel that way, always letting her know how much
she was loved. 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. And her ability to write
so easily came from her mother, who always wrote letters
that were like mini novels. Her father didn't do much
re the intimate 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!
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 College 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
finished the year of extra schooling, and then applied
to sit for the Public Service examination in Sydney.
She passed the exam, was interviewed, passed the medical,
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 at 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.
The
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 family history notes
for her children. Vena always read books, even as
a child, and could never have enough of them to satisfy
her need to read and learn. The desire to write a
book one day was hidden in the recesses of her mind.
One way to satisfy the desire to write was to try
and put together the pieces of her life from her earliest
childhood memories for her children, who were by then,
adults. It was 1997. Her son owned a computer and
she had used the word processor to write until he
moved away to work. In June 1999 she bought herself
a computer and the 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.
Without
even looking for them, she found online chat rooms;
wandered in for a look and stayed. The addiction set
in very quickly; she had found somewhere to spend
the alone times of a night where she could have fun,
meet people anonymously, and learn about computers.
Although being conversant with word processing packages,
Vena was still 'green' about the other aspects of
a computer. Surfing the net was a rarity and something
she found slow and boring. Finding chat saved her
from having to surf in order to find something interesting
to spend her time doing. Chat became a crutch, and
she grooved right into this new social medium she
had stumbled upon. Romantic relationships with men
had held no interest for her during eleven years of
separation/divorce, from 1988 to 1999. 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.
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 the manuscript
is written, the book has been classified fiction/romance
based on the author's real life, those three years
of chat. Since writing the manuscript and being offered
a contract, Vena has moved into other areas of writing.
A number of short stories came as the result of stories
told to her by friends that sent her mind into overdrive
- yes she did attempt fiction and enjoyed the journey
immensely.
Various
articles are published online with two press opportunities
being offered in Sydney. One was an article in the
SMH
titled The
Net Effect and the other was in a NSW Government
newspaper titled Communique. Numerous letters to editors
and comments on stories in newspapers online have
seen her portfolio of writing activities grow, and
into other areas besides chat online and online dating.
The short stories, articles and letters to editors
are posted on the www.secretslieschat.com
website as well being published on Authors Den, www.authorsden.com/venamcgrath.
An online press interview with Greg Tingle of Media
Man Australia 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 of joining
the other advocates around the world in efforts to
educate people and make them aware of the very real
dangers of the Internet.
Greg
Tingle of Media Man Australia is Vena's agent in 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 now with the
printer in the USA. 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.
Greg Tingle will play an important part in the promotion
of the book.
Media
possibilities for the coming months so far include
an article in a local newspaper, an interview on Channel
31 for Joy's World and late night talkback radio with
Susan Mitchell. Just the start of what will hopefully
be a snowball effect, as word is passed around, and
the book becomes something people will be interested
in buying.
2005
will be an exciting year, one of adventure and learning,
with Vena hopes, a growing self-confidence in herself
and her abilities.
Version
1
Websites
Secrets,
Lies & Chat
Secrets,
Lies & Chat blogger
Author's
Den - Vena McGrath
WHOA
- Working To Halt Online Abuse
Profiles
Vena
McGrath
Media
Man Australia
Books
and Authors
Online
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