JOELEEN BETTINI

Joeleen Bettini - Journalist
cairnseye magazine, The Cairns Post
Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Photograph by Russell Francis
@The Cairns Post
Joeleen, journalist for The Cairns Post, tells Book Creators Circle: "My passion for writing began at an early age. I can remember locking myself in my room for hours as a child and scribbling away. Mostly I wrote poems and songs but, as I grew older, my writing progressed to longer, more in-depth pieces. It didn't really matter what it was I wrote about; it was the process of putting words on paper that I enjoyed. It felt like home to me, like second nature.

Eventually this interest in writing transcended into other areas. I would be asked to write articles for school newsletters, to help out at the local paper or to write team songs for sporting groups. Before long my passion became my hobby and I decided the next step was to make it my career."

While completing a Bachelor of Arts at university in Western Australia, majoring in journalism, Joeleen secured work with the Community Newspaper Group in Perth, working as a roving reporter and filling in at its suburban branches. After graduation she fell into full time work with the paper specialising in property news and feature writing.

"I'm happy to say, I haven't looked back. I now work as a journalist for News Limited in Cairns, Far North Queensland writing for The Cairns Post. Outside of my current work as writer for weekly gloss lifestyle magazine Cairns Eye, I have been published across a wide range of genres including travel, fashion, business and home and living. I have also featured in and helped with the editing of a number of books. One of the things I love above all else is the wonderful people I write about and the great things they are doing with their lives. Being a journalist for such a big corporation allows for great scope and excitement. I can not see myself being anything but a journalist and am glad that those first scribbles lead me to the path I am now on."