5. Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery. Beautiful writing. The Anne Series gave me a happy refuge during my difficult childhood.
4. Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. Semi-autobiographical book that made me laugh, made me think, and made me examine the way I view and treat people.
3. Blue Smoke by Nora Roberts. It scared me so much, I had to read it with my eyes closed.
2. Into Dark Waters - my first novel. It takes me to Hawaii every time I read it.
1. The Bible

I love a good romantic suspense novel. Nora Roberts, Jayne Anne Krentz, Linda Howard are a few of the authors I enjoy.

I read on my I-Pad.

I write on the hospital bed in our guest room, on the sofa, or on a lounge chair (preferably on the deck of a cruise ship). There are papers with notes and research data scattered around me, and usually a giant cup with tea is within arms length. I find sitting at a desk to be uncomfortable and stifling.

I spent my teenage years in San Jose. I am more influenced by my family life than the tract home community in suburbia. My mother was a violent alcoholic, and my father used work to escape her. My brother, sister and I raised ourselves. Reading and writing kept me sane. The first chapter of Haunting Megan (coming soon to Smashwords) is autobiographical. Writing it exorcised many ghosts from my childhood.

I began writing stories to escape and for fun early in grade school. My first published work was a church Christmas play (Oh o! Not Another Christmas Play! CSS Publishing), and then I wrote curriculum for Standard Publishing. I wrote The Geek Club ten years ago, but stuck it away when my college professor told me it read like a screen play. My son turned it into a movie a few years later. The world of self-publishing opened the doors for me. I have many pieces of work from long ago that I want to go back and look over.

The opening chapter of Haunting Megan is autobiographical and violent. The book follows three sisters who deal with the murder of an older sister, Jessica, and the imprisonment of their mother for the crime. Megan is haunted, some say by the manifestation of her guilt for not helping Jessica, but Megan believes it is Jessica's ghost who visits and taunts her. When other bodies start dropping, killed in the same manner as Jessica, Megan and her family need to find the answers to what actually haunts Megan.

I am driven to write. I am a writer. I believe some of my work is quality and should be enjoyed. I also like having the freedom indie author's have.

Smashwords makes publishing easy! They provide the tools and the help to get my work out there to a variety of audiences.

I love bringing something into the world that would not be here without me. I strive to create characters the reader feels like he or she knows intimately. Bringing twists and turns into a story gives me great joy, too. I love when people say, "I couldn't figure it out until the end!" And I love to make people laugh. I believe we are created to be creative. If we do not have an outlet for that intrinsic need to create, we become depressed.

The thought of having people who enjoy my work fuels my creativity and gives me the energy to put in the long hours of work. I would love to meet and talk with all of them! A good review or email sends me flying!
Last week at dinner, my husband said to me, "Somewhere, someone is reading your work right now, and their day is better because of it." I hope that is true.