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Saturday, January 15, 2011
About time I added an update2010 was the year I devoted to completing the final draft of INDELIBLE. Mission accomplished. During the last three months
of the year, I started work on a new romance, HOOK LINE and SINKER, and a psychological suspense, GHOST SHOP.
Working on two novels at the same time could present a challenge, but since one of GHOST SHOP's protagonists happens to
be a very disturbing serial killer, who I have to channel in order to write segments in first person, being able to deal with
other characters' issues with their complicated personal and love lives actually provides me with a sometimes more-than-welcome
break.
HOOK, LINE and SINKER is set in Houston, Texas, where I lived for 14 years. Sara Holliday finds herself
overwhelmed by not only taking custody of her nine year old nephew, Jefferson, and his Mastiff after the
sudden deaths of her sister and brother in law, but also dealing with a promotion and a devastatingly handsome new supervisor,
S. Brandon Mead III. Sara and Brandon get off on the wrong foot when Jeff accidently hooks Brandon at the San Jacinto River
one sweltering summer day, and the complications keep coming from then on...
GHOST SHOP is set in Portland, Oregon,
where I now live. Exploring the city for everything from body dump locations to home turfs for my characters continues to
give me the opportunity to learn even more about my new home town than perhaps I would have over the last few months. I have
also had to deal with losses along with my characters. Sunny Weston loses her best friend, metaphysical shop owner, Tina Mason,
in a freak accident. Detective Ashton Haines loses even more when his youngest daughter, Amy, is found murdered. Serial killer,
Carlton Briggs,narrates a chilling historical revelation of his crimes that threads its way through the book until
it immerses itself in the chase to find him before he murders more of Ash's family and friends.
2011 promises
to be a productive, if disturbing year.
9:14 pm pst
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Hobbies:
Travel. Anywhere, at any time. Two years ago I spent New Year in New York with a friend who
lives in Lower Manhattan; took a trip with my son to Death Valley, Bishop and the Alabama Hills in the Spring; spent a
long weekend with friends in a cabin in Mammoth late summer and 5 days in November visiting friends in Houston.
Last year, I returned to Houston unexpectedly in February due to a very dear friend's illness, visited more close friends in
Spokane, Washington in April and took a research trip up to Maine for the 3rd book in the "Rose Tattoo" trilogy, "Maine Issues"
(working title,) and then Salem and Boston for pleasure/business in September. This year, my son came with me up to
Portland Oregon as we both have wanted to check it out for the last couple of years. EPICon made it a business trip
with 2 days of pleasure on either side. We drove the Columbia Gorge and hiked to a waterfall. We had dinner in
Chinatown. It was too early in the year to go hiking up to Mt. St. Helen's or visit some of the other attractions.
The only day we had to drive to the coast, rain was forecast. We may just have to go back...
Other hobbies: Hiking and camping with friends in the Sierras. I've even learned to fish.
Reading (of course!)
Researching (why do people think research has to be boring?)
While growing up in England, I read everything I could get my hands on. The bookshelf my parents
gave me became overloaded with everything from the classics through mysteries, romances, science fiction and even horror. I
not only read, but began writing and won a novel contest while in high school.
My other time-consuming interest became travel. After trips to Italy and the South of France during childhood,
I took a cruise around the Mediterranean with my godparents, visiting Malta, Portugal, Egypt (I saw the Pyramids and
the spectacular Cairo Museum,) Turkey, and Venice, Italy.
After that, I decided to immerse myself in the French language by living in Paris. There I met two friends
who even today remain among my closest. We traveled from Paris to spend the summer in Florence, Italy, and
then with one of them, I went on to visit Portugal and Morocco extensively, then on to Spain, where after touring from one
end to the other and spending a summer on the coast in Marbella, I met my future husband in Madrid and stayed four years
before coming to the U.S.
I've continued my globe-trotting ways by crossing the continental United States twice and living in six States.
Now the divorced mother of two grown children, I currently live in Monrovia with Taffy, the Canine Escape Artist.
Throughout these years, I not only benefitted from enriching, colorful experiences I've since woven into my
novels but also learned how to communicate effectively in three languages and how to be flexible and productive, whatever
the challenges.
My writing started with a 500 page historical (that resided somewhere in the bottom of a closet until my last move,
when it finally went into the shredder,) and then progressed through romances to mystery and suspense. I've also
published short fiction and non-fiction articles and completed the first draft of a screenplay for "tweens" (ages 11-13.)
Always looking for new challenges, while living in Boston, Massachusetts, I produced, wrote, directed
and edited two documentaries that aired on cable access (NewTV13.)
My e-published short contemporary romance and romantic-suspense novels are hopefully only the beginning.
I have many other stories to tell, and I'm a prolific writer, so expect more from me in the near future.
