Can you, for those who don't
know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an
author?
I was an enthusiastic reader from
day one. I read my very first Dick and Jane primer to everyone in the house,
including two captive kittens, one tucked under each arm. Then I read it
backwards. As soon as I figured out that somebody had to create the words I was
reading, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up—a “book maker.” I dedicated The Rebound Effect to Dick and Jane “who
first ignited my passion for the written word.” I’ve been writing all my life
and was first published when I was in college, but I’ve been able to spend more
time on it since I retired from my position as fiction librarian for the San
Diego Public Library. My stories, from short shorts to novellas, have been published in numerous literary
journals. The Rebound Effect is my
third published novel and the second with the Wild Rose Press.
What is something unique/quirky about you?
I enjoy washing dishes by hand, but only if somebody reads to
me while I do it.
Tell us something really interesting that's happened to
you!
Earlier this year, our old, unused dial-up phone started
calling 911. The police came to the door several times, once in the middle of
the night, before we figured it out.
What are some of your pet peeves?
The puzzling notion that conjunctions somehow reverse the
pronoun rules. Only a two-year-old would say “Me went to the store,” but I
constantly hear things like “Me and him went to the store” and “She gave it to
he and I.” Like Teresa, the heroine of The Rebound Effect, I also hate
distracted driving and movie previews that give away too much of the story.
Where were you born/grew up at?
I was born and raised in San Diego, California, and would
never want to live anywhere else. I enjoy visiting other places, but San Diego
will always be home.
If you knew you'd die tomorrow, how would you spend your
last day?
Reading! And eating chocolate.
Who is your hero and why?
Jaycee Dugard, because she chose to live her life with
strength and joy and purpose, helping others instead of dwelling on what was
taken from her. I also very much admire former President Jimmy Carter for all
the good work he does all over the world.
What kind of world ruler would you be?
A terrible one! Overwhelmed and confused.
What do you do to unwind and relax?
I love the three R’s –reading, writing, and research. I also
enjoy movies, Scrabble, and travel. I’ve been to three countries and
forty-eight states, most recently Hawaii. I like to visit art museums,
galleries, and botanical exhibits too—beauty feeds the soul.
Describe yourself in 5 words or less!
Klutzy, independent, honest, and impatient.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
When I wrote my first story. I lifted the basic plot from a
Nancy and Sluggo comic book and wrote “Judy and the Fairies”at the age of six.
Do you have a favorite movie?
I always find it impossible to choose just one favorite of
anything, but the one I have watched most often is the 1968 film, No Way to Treat a Lady, with George
Segal and Rod Steiger. Love, Actually
may eventually overtake it, though.
Which of your novels can you imagine made into a movie?
I can see my forthcoming novel Guilty Knowledge as a movie, or better yet a TV series. I would
cast Boris Kodjoe or Trai Byers as the hero, and his partner is one of my
favorite supporting characters. I always enjoy writing dialog for tough, sassy
women.
What literary pilgrimages have you gone on?
I’m not sure if it counts as a literary pilgrimage, but I
went to England to visit the places described in the Poldark novels by Winston
Graham. Cornwall is lovely.
As a writer, what would you choose as your
mascot/avatar/spirit animal?
I have two. My sometime writing partner, Huxley, is a stuffed
writer mouse from Starbucks. I consider him co-author of the novella “Starbucks”
(Eclectica April/May 2015.). He named
the characters and insisted that it not be a romance, although he is otherwise
partial to bedroom scenes. My muse is a lizard named Sparkle. They can both be
seen on my Facebook author page. Sparkle is in the cover image.
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press, Inc
Publication Date: July 15, 2019
In the small town of Cougar, struggling single mother and veterinary assistant Teresa Lansing is still bruised from a failed relationship when Frank McAllister sweeps her off her feet.
Frank is a big-city SWAT officer who moved to Cougar only four months ago. He's handsome, charming, forceful, very sexy, and a bit mysterious. He had his eye on Teresa even before they met and is pushing for a serious relationship right away.
Teresa finds his intense courtship flattering, and the sex is fabulous, but she doesn't want her deaf six-year-old son to be hurt again. Her former fiancé cheated on her when he got drunk after being unjustly fired, but he loves her and her son, and the whirlwind romance is complicated by his efforts to win Teresa back.
And then there's the matter of the bodies buried at Big Devil Creek…
I was born and raised in San Diego, California and earned a BA in English from San Diego State University and an MLS from UCLA. I began my career as a reference and collection development librarian in the Art and Music Section of the San Diego Public Library and then transferred to the Literature and Languages Section, where I had the pleasure of managing the Central Library's Fiction collection and initiating fiction order lists for the entire library system. Although I also enjoy reading biography, memoir, and history, fiction remains my first love. In addition to the three R's--reading, writing, and research--I enjoy Scrabble, movies, and travel.
My earliest ambition was to be a "book maker" and I wrote my first story, "Judy and the Fairies," with a plot stolen from a comic book, at the age of six. I broke into print in college with a story in the San Diego State University literary journal, The Phoenix, but most of my magazine publications came after I left the library to spend more time on my writing
My stories have been published in numerous journals, including Eclectica, The Binnacle, The Nassau Review, Orbis, Thema Literary Journal, and forthcoming in Avalon Literary Review, and and in the anthologies Short Story America, Vol. 2 and The Captive and the Dead. Four stories, including two as yet unpublished, received honorable mention in the Short Story America Prize for Short Fiction contests.
Member of RWA and Authors Guild
$25 Amazon gift card
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