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Always hate this bit - it's difficult to find that thin line between writing a brief, succinct CV-esque bland-fest and waffling on like you've had far too many glasses of Vino Collapso and have entered that deluded state where you've developed a jet-propelled gob and really do believe that everyone wants to hear your cute childhood stories. Or is it just me who does that?

Anyway, I was born in 1967 in Glasgow, where I stayed until I was 16 and lied about my age to get a job with a travelling door-to-door sales force. Don’t ask. It sounded great in the advert. Despite the fact that it was the worst job in the planet, I stuck it out and flogged fire extinguishers to homes all over England, Ireland and Amsterdam (that was the bit in the advert about "extensive foreign travel" – pounding the streets of residential Amsterdam in minus ten degrees carrying a fire extinguisher – I couldn’t make this up….).

On my eighteenth birthday I saw sense and my frostbitten feet and decided to head for home where I found work as a receptionist in a nightclub. I’d found my calling. Within two years I was manager of the club and within four I was Area Manager, running three Glasgow nightclubs, including one that was at that time the largest in Scotland. It was an all encompassing, crazy, high profile, unpredictable, often dangerous life and I lived on my wits, Marlboros and three hours sleep a night. I really miss the good old days.  

But a girl eventually does need a new challenge. So at 22 I went to work for Sheraton Hotels, managing a nightclub in their hotel in Shanghai. More unsociable long hours and permanent hearing impairment, but at least the food was better. I stayed there for a year, before transferring to the Sheraton in Hong Kong to manage the opening and operation of a new $22million dollar leisure complex on the roof of the hotel. Were my bosses mad? They trusted me with that kind of asset when I had the biggest overdraft (but in my defense, a fab wardrobe) in South East Asia.

Fourteen months later the project was complete and with a gap before my next job began (a management role with the new Hilton hotel that was opening back in my home city), I headed to New York for some rest and minor cosmetic surgery on my wrinkles. A prune at 24 – it was a sad sight.

A year later I was a month short of leaving the Hilton to return to a hotel in Asia, when a guy I hated on sight walked into the Hilton. I changed my mind thirty seconds later. Seven days later, we moved in together and threw an engagement party. It was our fourteenth anniversary in March 2007 (it's amazing what love, devotion and the threat of expensive divorce lawyers can achieve!).

This change in my personal life necessitated a change in my professional one, as I decided that 16 hour back to back shifts were not conducive to a happy home. As I was trained for nothing other than the hospitality and entertainment industry, the only lucrative career choice open to me was in Sales. I went for the real glamour products: first there were litter bins, and then I moved on to toilet rolls. I was big in toilet rolls. How many people can say that? Please don't laugh.

Heading towards the millennium, I decided it was time for another change. Managing a team of twelve sales people across the UK meant being away from home (now in London) from Monday to Friday and every day was a thirteen hour slog. Ironic. I switched careers to spend more time at home and six years later I struggled to remember the colour of my bathroom. Or my husband.

It had been my lifelong intention to write a novel, so in a fit of motivation I wrote the first three chapters of my book What If? and sent it off to a selection of five publishers and two agents. Three publishers expressed interest and on the back of this I also secured an agent.  

On March 13^th 2000 I got my first publishing deal with Piatkus Books at 4.10pm. At 4.19pm I found out I was pregnant. Two life-changing events in one day. I was in shock for weeks. I was now working in satellite communication sales at the star studded Pinewood Studios, where every day was a minefield of security breaches, sales targets and holding in my stomach in case anyone famous was around. It was a relief to slouch into maternity smocks and big knickers.

My first son, Callan was born on 11.11.2000, and What If? was published on 8^th Feb 2001. I did a book signing tour with a large post natal body and a baby attached to my back - I was a hippo with a pen.

Book 2, Why Not? (sequel to the first) hit the shelves on September 5^th 2002, five months after the birth of my second son, Brad. Thankfully this pattern of book & baby every year didn't continue and in September 2003, Double Trouble was published (but I did buy a pregnancy test just in case).

What If? was published in Germany in May 2003 (the title of the German translation is 'Torschlusspanik') and managed to climb to the top of the best  seller lists ( I've drunk only German beer ever since - it's a token of my gratitude). It was followed by Saure Gurken Zeit (Why Not?) in May 2004, Marchen Prinz Auf Abruf (Double Trouble) in November 2004, Freunde, Sex und Alibis in April 2006 and Happy Ohne Ende in April 2007. My next German novel, Treuesprünge will be published in March 2008.

The American publishing rights to Why Not? were bought by Simon & Schuster and it was published there by their Downtown Press imprint in October 2004. Rights for various other books have also been bought by publishers in Russia, Italy and Indonesia.

Oh, I almost forgot.. In 2003 I  was invited by Simon & Schuster to contribute (along with Jenny Colgan, Isla Dewar, Muriel Gray and more) to a forthcoming collection of short stories, Scottish Girls On The Town. This was released in April 2003, with a pound from the sale of every copy going to charity - if you missed this one, it's still available on amazon.co.uk. I know, shameless plug, but it's for charity and it's great, I promise!  

Over the last couple of years I've changed agent (now the lovely Sheila Crowley at AP Watt), publisher (now the amazing team at Avon) and have been trying loads of new stuff (film, TV etc). One of my books was optioned by a US production company so me, husband and brood went off to LA for a while. I was determined to sell a screenplay or book to someone, anyone in Hollywood - I didn't care if it was the bloke who drove the Universal Studios tour bus and he bought it for a tenner. Anyway, still working on that (news soon!), but I did have a amazing time and go for lots of meetings with high-power studio execs who terrified the life out of me. It was my LA adventure that inspired my last book, The Motherhood Walk Of Fame. It was published in August 2007 by Avon (a new imprint of Harper Collins).

I can honestly say that my new book, My Best Friend's Life wasn't inspired by my life at all. It's about two lifelong best friends, Ginny and Roxy, who - due to a whole catalogue events - end up swapping lives, wardrobes and sexual antics. Sadly, I've never swapped lives with anyone, but if Julia Roberts was up for it then I'd be happy to give it a go.

So now we're up to the present day. I live near Glasgow in a house with three males (one large, two small) where I spend most of the time dodging toxic odours, shouting "Put that toilet seat down!" and cleaning football boots. I love it!

And when I'm not working on my novels or dragging the kids round Ikea, I also write a weekly opinion column for the Daily Record, Scotland's biggest selling newspaper. It's great fun -  I get to say what I think about everything from celebrities to cellulite and actually get paid for it. I've been doing that in pubs for the last fifteen years for free! It runs every Thursday and you can read my witterings online at www.dailyrecord.co.uk.

I also write a book review column for the same paper, so I've included some of my favourites on one of the other pages of this site. At least I think I have - my website design skills are up there with my ability to walk past a packet of Hob Nobs without taking one, so I'm not entirely confident.

So, I think that's everything. Thanks for taking the time to read all this - can't believe I managed to fill a whole page and I haven't even got around to those cute childhood stories yet.... run while you can!

Love,

Shari xx

Copyright © 2008 Shari Low