I was born in Nebraska at daybreak during a blizzard in December to a cabinetmaker and a housewife.  What a romantic beginning, right? But my life was far from romantic. Because of my father's occupation, or whatever, the family traveled from one coast to the other. So living in different locales and among diverse cultures seemed normal to me. By the time I was 10 years old, I had gone to more than a dozen different schools in a dozen different states.  Good news is that I think it was this exposure to different ways of life that now sparks my imagination and gives me an appreciation for all cultures and lifestyles.

Of all the places I've lived, I would have to say the south is the most colorful and memorable place I've ever been. I can recall our family having to quickly gather all our valuables and evacuating Florida in the path of a  hurricane. I saw chain gangs working alongside the road, children my own age scrounging through garbage cans in alleys looking for food, and one memorable night in Texas I watched circus elephants playing in the surf of the Gulf of Mexico after an evening's performance under the big top.  

The family finally settled in Sacramento, where I graduated from high school and attended college. Then I went to work as a secretary for a mortgage company. That didn't last long because I got restless, got married and moved to Nevada where my then husband tended bar in the Ely Hotel until management found out he was underage, then he went to work for a mining company while I played Suzy Homemaker and took care of our child. 

For better or worse, I've always had a vivid imagination,  and writing came fairly easy to me; so my intention was always to combine the two. But the timing was never right.  

Then when I could contain myself no longer, I started writing Double Devotion post-Vietnam War.  One night I awoke from a dream. This dream was  so vivid and real, I wrote it down so I would never forget it. At about that same time I was going through the heartache of an impossible, but delicious, relationship breaking up. So I combined the two events. In a way, the original manuscript was good therapy. . .thankfully, no one will ever see it because it ended up in a shoebox and I eventually trashed it. Nevertheless, I knew there was a good story hiding in it somewhere. But life got in the way and I put it off while I supported myself and my children working as an Executive Assistant in the corporate world. Before I knew it, my children were grown and gone; and I was left wondering what I'd do with the rest of my life. It was a time of choices.     

Then the tragedy of 9/11 came along and created a seismic shift in my perception of reality.  It also shook me awake to a few cold, hard facts.

Watching the tragedy of 9/11 unfold, I suddenly got it!  Life really is too short!!  Before 9/11, it was all about the fast track, staying there, proving every day I deserved to be there, and making as much money as I could while I was there. . . just like those poor souls whose lives had been taken from them that September day. So after 9/11, I did an intense re-evaluation of my priorities and the life I was living. Was my soul satisfied?  NO!  Was I putting my dreams on hold? Without a doubt.  So I gathered all the courage I had,  resigned from my cushy job, sold my fabulous home, bought a little piece of land in  the mountains, pulled my old manuscript off the closet shelf and sat down to do a gazillion rewrites.  I was going to try my damnest to became  a writer.  

The land I bought is in a little valley nestled in the mountains of Northern California.  It's a peaceful existence, feeds my soul and now I'm free to put my imagination to the page.  I still dabble in art and photography. My photos, most notably winter scenes of my little farm, have won a few ooohs, ahhhs and awards.

I started writing my first book, Double Devotion because I wanted to tell a journey of courage from a woman's point of view.  If there's one thing I absolutely know for sure it's that God does not reserve backbone and brains for men alone.  Women have a unique spirit.  That's one of the things I wanted to explore in my writing.  

Although I have to admit there are some characters  in Double Devotion who practically wrote themselves.  When I introduced the character of Clarice, my purpose was to have her serve as  a catalyst for CJ's jealous streak but then she became so much more than I had originally intended.   Once I started writing about her, I couldn't stop and ended up liking her a lot.  The book I'm working on now is, in fact, Clarice's story.

Of course, some of  my characters are just products of an overactive  imagination.  For example, I thought it would be great fun to write about a character whose  only job skills were cunning and seduction. She turned out to be  so interesting I may someday devote an entire book to her.  In the meantime, she gets a whole chapter in Double Devotion.

My greatest hope is that you will step into this book and enjoy the chit-chat, the sexual adventures, the angst and courage of my  characters. Enjoy!