Biography

I'm a corporate drone and cubicle dweller with a romantic soul.
I read and write romance because I crave good love stories with happy endings. The creative energy of writing allows my mind to escape the reality of my everyday world, at least for a while.

Reading opened a whole new wonderful world to me as a child. I read anything and everything I could get my hands on, even cereal boxes. When I got older I haunted the main library in downtown Wilmington, Delaware. I can still feel the rush of excitement every time I walked through the large doors and inhaled the scent of thousands of books.

There is a classic episode from the TV show Twilight Zone that fills me with horror to this day. A bookworm survives a nuclear attack while he's in a library, only to have his glasses break.
He's surrounded by all those books and can't see to read them. This is the stuff of my nightmares.

As a preteen and teen I loved the young adult romance novels of Elizabeth Howard. When I was twelve I wrote Ms. Howard a fan letter and told her I wanted to be a writer, but I didn't have a typewriter. She wrote back that I didn't need a typewriter to be an author. Ms. Howard's heroines were always feisty and smart.
I wanted to be like them.

I also loved the Judy Bolton books written by Margaret Sutton. I still have all thirty-three of my beloved Judy books. Judy was feisty and smart and solved mysteries.

For as long as I can remember I've made up stories in my head. Most were love stories. I became an ardent fan of old Thirties and Forties romantic comedies that played on late-night TV when I was growing up. I went through my “mystery reading” phase, my “Zane Grey western" phase, my "spy" phase. But romances have always been my favorites. Romance novels are life affirming and deliver happy endings. And what's wrong with that? We get enough unhappiness and mayhem on the evening news. Why not escape reality for a while with a good romance?

I always dreamed of being a published author. I've worked in the corporate world all my adult life, but the dream of seeing my name on a book wouldn't die. In 1992 my friend Gwen and I were reading some of the Harlequin romances. One day we looked at each other and said, “We can write these." We soon learned that it takes lots of talent and hard work to make something look easy.

I joined Romance Writers of America and absorbed all I could about the craft of writing. I met many published authors who helped and encouraged me. I entered contests and studied all aspects of the publishing business. After ten long years of hard work, rejections and disappointments, I sold my first book to Avalon. Writing is the hardest work I've ever done, but the most rewarding.

Authors are often asked where we get our ideas. I drew on a very small incident from my high school days as inspiration for A Catered Affair. I used the emotions I felt then to give my characters depth and make their plight realistic. A little of me is in my heroine Mary Beth. The story is set in my hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.

To read more about Delaware, go to www.delawareonline.com. A whole chapter of my book is set at the Greek Festival, which is held every June in Wilmington. Read about the Greek Festival on the Delaware site or do a Google search: Greek Festival Wilmington Delaware. Check out www.emerils.com for recipes of the dishes (lamb stew, crab cakes, veal saltimbocca) Mary Beth prepares in the book.

I've gotten much positive feedback on A Catered Affair (read a review on www.avalonbooks.com), but the most exciting recognition so far came when I was named an up and coming author in one of Affaire de Coeur magazine's readers' poll. Unfortunately they misspelled my last name.

I write the books I want to read. The settings (a ranch in Wyoming, for instance) might not be places I know, but the emotions I write about are real ones that we all share.

I took early retirement from my management job at a telecommunications company and now work for an insurance company. I write every lunch hour at my desk. I write whenever I find time, even if it's just fifteen minutes. I once wrote a whole chapter in longhand while at my son's track meet. Don't worry, I didn't miss his races.

In addition to my book, The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper published a travel article I wrote (see it on this site). I've written numerous opinion letters that were published in local papers and national magazines.

I live in Delaware with my husband, son and a fat, black cat named Killer

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