With a degree in journalism, I have enjoyed a career in public relations, public affairs, media relations, manuscript book editing, and association management. All of those jobs involved storytelling. When I was 20-something and unemployed, I wrote short stories and a little poetry.

For years, I avoided writing series books. It seemed like too steep a hill to climb, but I have changed my mind. A series lets me develop characters over time. For example, in my new series Love on Life's Zip Line, some characters recur throughout the books. They are at different places in their lives in particular books of the series. In one book, a hero and heroine may be the main characters, but they may be the minor characters in later books in the series. I'm pretty much hooked on writing series.

I am a lifelong professional communicator. Today the leading edge of publishing is the indie author movement. I cannot bear not to be there. I am also an entrepreneur. Indie authorship is entrepreneurism on steroids. Gatekeepers are minimal in the movement. If I can create a good story that people want to read and if I work hard at being discoverable, I can succeed. If I don’t, I am not a victim, just a person who needs to learn to write a better story and build a better author brand.

Creating characters and plots from bits and pieces in my mind and from my life experience is real joy.
I also love writing books for pre-K and very young readers. For those titles, I combine my photographic and design skills with age-appropriate words to create a whole lot of fun.

Thank goodness, every day is different. Some days chores cannot be postponed. At other times, my focus is on helping friends or family. Now and then I get out of bed with a big smile on my face because I have just figured out how to fix a problem with my current plot. Chores can wait.

Forgiveness and redemption are recurring themes in my books including my series Love on Life's Zip Line. I also write about forgiveness and redemption in the love stories of The Italian Ski Instructor, Redeemed, Craig's Hometown, and Her Man in Ireland. Oftentimes my plots involve characters from different cultures and faiths. This is the case in many of my novels and my short stories including “The Immigrants,” in my short story collection The Hospitality Connection and “The Job,” in my short story collection The Patriotic Connection – Life and Love in the Forties. My characters are flawed people, oftentimes challenged by difficult circumstances in their lives, but they do not see themselves as victims. They know it is up to them to make things work in an imperfect world.
I may write a lot more stories, but Antonio Di Costa, the handsome Italian man who returned from Afghanistan without one leg, is likely to be my all-time favorite character. No doubt, there will be other characters with challenges who will find their way, with grace and charm. But Antonio Di Costa. Well, this guy is just special. If you don’t know him yet, I invite you to take a look at Redeemed.

No one else has had the exact same life experiences as I have. Those experiences and my personal responses to them have given me a point of view that informs my characters and plots. If I don’t write these stories, no one else will. No one else can.

When I finish a book, I give myself a few days off to do the chores and pleasurable things I had neglected while I was pushing so hard to finish the book. Then I go through the process of updating my working documents for the book: the backstory, the chapter list, and other items. I always enjoy seeing how the characters sent the plot into some places I had not anticipated. If it's not a series book, I start missing my daily interaction with them. If it's a series book, I enjoy seeing how these characters have changed over time. The character arcs for Patricia and John in Love on Life's Zip Line amazed me. In finishing all my books, I acknowledge that the characters now belong to you, the reader, who will give them new life according to your own experiences and imagination. I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

The heroes in several of my books are Italian: more than one American Italian, a Swiss Italian, an artisan in Siena. They are handsome and charming and cook Italian. What's not to like?

With respect to adult fiction, I usually write contemporary romance. Watch for a change on that soon.

I've just published Her NOLA Man. I love visiting New Orleans with its rich history and culture. I could not resist spinning a tale about a man whose ancestors arrived in 1754 and a newcomer who grew up in group homes in Texas. Their backgrounds and personalities are absolute opposites. It's a page-turner with a big surprise.