My career telling funny stories began in third grade: I told my friends Bozo the Clown was my father. They were impressed. My father was horrified. Mom hurt herself laughing.
Elementary School: I didn’t have 'Fun' With Dick and Jane. I thought them boring. One dimensional. I rewrote their stories and had them do interesting things like steal penny candy, and spy on neighbors.
Junior High: I joined the drama club and learned how to perfect my facial expressions when telling my stories. Mom said I could lie with a straight face. I took that as a compliment.
High School: I hired out to fellow classmates, writing term papers, book reports, and notes from parents excusing Jack or Jill from gym due to a contagious skin infection, or grief from sudden loss of younger sibling.
Working Career: My grandmother died many times, enabling me to take days off to write without eating into vacation time.
I suffered horrific family loss during my five years with an insurance company. My boss let me work a four day week in order to cope.
I used my free Friday’s to hone my pirate romance, my sexy detective romance, my ghost story, my mystery. My--whatever I happened to be working on at the moment story.
Eventually it occurred to me to not only write a story, but to mail it to a publisher. Rejection letters came flooding in. I buckled down and got serious about putting food on my table and paying the bills. And like many childhood dreams, my writing aspirations were put on the shelf, dusted off from time to time, but not pursued with any seriousness...
Until I met another writer named Linda Rettstatt, recently published, who put her foot in my back with encouragement, laughter and lots of Starbucks coffee.
My romantic comedy, Southern Exposure, debuted two years later, and received a coveted nomination for an EPPIE award in 2009.
My writing credentials at that time included the original concept of interviewing your characters, book reviews, and articles geared for novice writers. I also had lecture experience at RWA-sponsored conferences, and won multiple writing contests.
My romantic comedy, Southern Exposure, debuted two years later, and received a coveted nomination for an EPPIE award in 2009.
My writing credentials at that time included the original concept of interviewing your characters, book reviews, and articles geared for novice writers. I also had lecture experience at RWA-sponsored conferences, and won multiple writing contests.
Feeling pretty full of confidence, I moved on to publish a children's book and a purranormal mystery both starring my mews, Herman Tattlecat, a Turkish Van mix rescued during a blizzard when we lived on five acres in Kentucky.
My fantasy-realism about the Kringle family and their efforts to get Christmas to the world while fighting sugar addiction and a plot to kill the reindeer was followed by a collection of pet rescue stories donated to FourPaws Lifeline, a 501(3)c benefitting paw parents without financial resources with extreme veterinary bills.
In between writing, I have spent most of my adult life saving stray cats from neighborhood colonies, not with donations, but from out of my own pocket. I'm a cat magnet. They find me, usually when they are stressed from living a dangerous life on the streets. I've got a 100+ rescue tally and yes, I can still name them all.
All of the sales from my novels benefit cat charities, as well as go toward the ever-growing veterinary bills now that my Wonderpurr Gang are moving way too fast into their super-senior years.
For more information about my books, click the image below to take you to my Amazon author page. Thank you for your support of a starving artist.
Happy Reading!
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