ABOUT ME
I've been a reader and a writer for a very long time. There's a photo of me learning to use the "potty chair," and I'm "reading" a picture book while I sit there. I taped stories written in crayon to the bricks of my grandmother's front porch. Before I obtained a library card, I wore out the pages of The Road to Story Land.
Between the ages of 7 and 13, my home away from home was the Quincy Public Library. I was the Queen of the Library. It was my castle; the children's reading room was in the tower. I checked out three particular books so often the librarian called my mother and informed her I was depriving the other children. They decided I could check out those books once a month for two weeks only. What were the three books? Girls' Book of Famous Queens, Cleopatra of Egypt, and D'Aulaires' Book Of Greek Myths. Thus began a life-long love affair with reading, powerful women, Egypt, and mythology. Later, when writing became my passion, what did I want to write about? You guessed it.
I'm lucky because I've always had jobs that allowed me to make a living by writing. I started by writing commercials for a local television station, spent several years writing grants and general fund-raising materials, and finally became a technical writer and editor. No, I didn't write the great American novel during that time, BUT I learned plenty about writing that my creative writing classes didn’t cover. The most valuable lesson? You can’t wait for inspiration. Sometimes, you just put your butt in the chair and write whether or not you feel like it.
What else about me? I have two adult children who have inspired some of my characters. I love to travel, and some of those places make their way into my novels. I have interests that also pop up from time-to-time in my fiction writing: Egypt, gardening, magick/heka, and romance and mystery novels to name a few.