I never know what to write in
these writing biographies. I'm the quintessential Walter Mitty type--I live
vicariously through my characters. None of whom are me. I pinky-swear. (They
all have more guts than I do.)
I love to bake. My dad took the Wilton course in cake decorating, and taught me almost all
he knew. Everything but the roses. Since everyone's on a diet, I don't get much
chance to bake anymore. But I still love to bake, and seriously contemplated a
career as a pastry chef. Or a cookbook writer. Sometimes I enter recipe
contests, but I haven't won any yet. I love to watch anything dessert-related
on the Food Network. I mean, hey, who needs dinner? Let's just skip to dessert!
I'm all over the place,
writing-wise. I write sweet romance, YA, Middle Grade, and Mainstream with
Romantic Elements, including what is currently a time-travel trilogy set in Scotland, where, alas, I've never been. But someday . . .
Writing short fiction is
a great teacher for honing scenes--brevity is, after all, the soul of wit. A
short story is a sprint. You can feel the wind in your hair as you run.
It's exhilarating.
But I also love the
freedom of the open road of a novel. Writing a novel is like driving down the
highway and stopping in all the souvenir shops to chat with people, getting to
know their stories. Life moves too fast today. I think I should have lived
during the 1950's, maybe someplace like Pleasantville.
One of my favorite
things to do is go to the Jersey shore, and shop, shop, shop in all the kitschy
souvenir stores; pad along the boardwalk; breathe in the sea air; and eat way
too much salt-water taffy. Can you imagine a better day than that?
Everyone says I'm a
dreamer, but really, doesn't the world need more dreamers?
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