My Life As A Writer

I started writing when I was 21 years old--that's 30 years ago and, yes, I'm disclosing my age. Writing is as much a part of my life as eating and breathing. I can't live without it. If I don't write something each day, I feel like I have failed myself and my readers. My writing career, as it were, began one day in 1977 when I was talking to my mother on the phone. I was always a doodler and, out of the blue, this...line came out on the page. I still remember it: "Jenny McCall awoke with a scream on her lips." Hey, I thought, that would be a great first line for a book! That's how it all began. Of course, I had to decide then just why Jenny McCall awoke with the scream on her lips. After I did that, I was only my way.

That manuscript and two others never saw publication, and with good reason. First of all, they were awful! Secondly, upon my divorce from my first husband, they found their way into the wood stove in our former home. (Then his home.) It was probably just as well. Like I said, they needed a lot of work. Writing was in my blood, though, so from that point on I got book after book on writing from our local library. I continued to write, and I honed my craft.

I am proud to say that I have come a long way since those days. With 11 books now in print (3 on my own and another 8 co-authored with Kathe Birch) I am well on my way to becoming an established author. I've even developed a fan base! I'm still looking for that elusive "best seller", though; maybe my new manuscript, a romantic thriller called "Daddy's Revenge" will be the one...