And at first she was spurred on by the floods. Her work became a little quieter during the wet season and so she planned to escape into her own world of words and ideas.

Each night the full time officer manager would return home and write - 2000 words here, a few hundred words there until she suddenly had an 80,000 word manuscript.

The novel, Linked, tells the story of an English businessman who travels to Australia to visit his sister, whose children were kidnapped years earlier.

A man stands trial for their kidnapping and the businessman is preoccupied with following the legal proceedings until a strange woman enters his life.

The book has been described as a romantic mystery. But now, as Ms Remington puts the finishing touches on the manuscript, just weeks before it goes to the printers, she is getting by with a little help from her friends.

Ms Remington admits she has been overwhelmed with support from co-workers, friends and the general Mount Isa community.

Local contractor Dot Vonhoff and her assistant Dawn Thrower immediately agreed to help her edit the manuscript.

Previously their editing experience had been in correcting reports and resumes, not novels.

But both were excited by the challenge and have spent countless weekends ensuring the plot gets thicker and the mistakes disappear.

Several businesses have thrown their financial support behind getting the self-published novel printed.

Last week she received an anonymous donation of $5000 to assist with her printing costs.

Eight-year-old St Joseph’s Primary School grade three student Claudia Stevens will provide the front cover artwork.

Mount Isa City Councillor and small business owner Jean Ferris has offered to have the book launch at her newsagency. Even a short message on social networking internet site, Facebook, gathered more than 70 book orders.