I was completely captivated by Jean de Brunhoff's Babar the Elephant, from his green suit to how he could drive a car. The book was printed in cursive writing, which also seemed magical. Of all the storybooks from my childhood, Babar has never left my imagination, stoking it to the present day (although I have never written about an elephant in a green suit).

In 2006, my oldest child mentioned National Novel Writing Month, and that I might enjoy it. Funny how one's offspring can sense even the deepest desires, perhaps it was all the time spent together homeschooling. But that wasn't when I actually began writing. Like many authors, I always hoped to pen The Great American Novel.

The moment that I realized telling stories was imperative to my well-being came in 1992, watching Callie Khouri accept the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Thelma and Louise. From that day, ideas flew but as the mum of three small children, there seemed no time to scribble much more than a grocery list. I did manage a screenplay based on my tenure at beauty college, but scripts weren't my calling. It took over a decade to find the time and impetus to write a novel, but in the interim I scratched out countless journal entries, a few poems, and of course more grocery lists. Yet my daughter seemed to note my love for writing, and when she mentioned NaNoWriMo, I had found the outlet for all those authorial dreams. And maybe having just turned forty might have had something to do with it too.

I was born and raised in Northern California, and while that heritage colours my work, the biggest influence was the eleven years I resided in Yorkshire, England. It was there I participated in my first NaNoWriMo, my arm only slightly twisted by my then seventeen-year-old eldest daughter. Somehow, all my fictional dreams coalesced in Great Britain, where my first published novel was written and set. Moving back to California six months later, I finished that story, and the rest of the writing snowballed from there. England remains dear to my heart for many reasons, but especially in finally freeing that long-held dream of becoming a writer.

I have more plots than sense, so writing keeps me sane. But that's not the only thrill (and blessing); when I write, I'm exploring a previously unconsidered idea. I'm liberating characters that tend to spill over into my life. (How many times do I find myself mumbling story lines while in the shower or driving?) Everyone has a calling, and from the time I realized it would take way too long to become an obstetrician (not to mention I'm very squeamish), I wanted to write. Medicine and literature aren't mutually exclusive, but I tend to write about families, so maybe there is a correlation. Or perhaps it's birthing so many characters; I love creating lives, then tangling them into other existences. My writing is character-based, heavy with melodrama, and it's better to expend all that angst on hapless casts than within my own day-to-day.

Love stories and family sagas are my stock and trade, but as I don't write the typical romance novel, and I include faith and social issues, my stories don't fit into traditional genres. Independent publishing is the best way to distribute my tales as I please and I am thankful to Smashwords for providing an outlet to share my stories with anyone interested.

The Enran Chronicles began after the death of my brother-in-law. I wrote the second book first as a cathartic exercise, then realized I wanted to do more with the cast. A Love Story, the first installment, was written next, then began a major rewrite of Book Two, Life Stories, which will be published in summer. Aliens from a distant galaxy find themselves on Earth, wishing for finite ends to their existences. Taking over college sophomores Tia Sorenson and Nathan Zanetti, the Enran find far more than they ever imagined, as do Tia and Nathan, who no longer can be apart from one another, not merely due their undeniable attraction.

This series will evolve both on Earth and in another cosmos as the Sorenson family is drawn into an intergalactic war. Yet love and familial relationships are at the heart of this saga, which will unfold over the next few years. One can never predict how therapeutic methods turn into a sci-fi page-turner. Enjoy these tales, all of which are free.

The need to see my husband off to work. Afterwards I leisurely drink several cups of milky British tea while indulging in my other passion, that of English paper piecing.

An improv, patchwork, and English paper piecing quilter, I read, watch baseball and basketball and a little bit of tennis, and listen to a vast array of musical artists from head-bangers to the smoothest jazz instrumentalists. Gardening occupies much of my spring and summer unless the grandkids are visiting, then it's all about hanging out with family. And when I get a free minute, I love to stroll along the beach or escape into The Redwoods.

I was initially influenced by poet and author Richard Brautigan, also by John Irving, Amy Tan, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Joseph Girzone, and Brennan Manning. Indie authors like Dianne Gray, Julie K. Rose, Heather Domin, Gary Weston, Suzy Stewart Dubot, David H. Keith, Elizabeth Rowan Keith, and Barnaby Wilde capture my attention with their wit, grace, and entertaining styles.

This list includes fiction and non-fiction.

1. In Watermelon Sugar, by Richard Brautigan, is a brief but poetic journey in an unnamed land where watermelons are a different colour every day. A shocking occurrence leads to tragedy amid the smallest rivers and the gaze of a wise old trout. Brautigan is at his finest in this beautiful novella that I have read and reread since I was in high school.

2. The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, caught me by surprise, a novel read for research's sake. It has become one of my favourite books, a glimpse into a psyche scarred by war. I don't try to separate the truth from fiction, but I suppose it could fall under non-fiction just as easily.

3. The Islandman, by Tomas O'Crohan, transported me from my Silicon Valley kitchen to Blasket Island off the coast of Ireland every time I sat to read. I was lost in another time and place until I closed up that book for the beautiful language employed, and the touching display of life from over one hundred years ago. Not a story I will ever forget.

4. Birthday Letters, by Ted Hughes, is a collection by Britain's one-time poet laureate about the author's experience with his late wife, Sylvia Plath. As poems note when the couple met to after her death, Birthday Letters reads like a novel, precious love twisted with torturous angst. In verse, a poignant yet helpless despair weaves throughout, as Hughes admits how little of his wife's depression he realized, and the horror thrust upon him after her death. Stunning in its honesty, this collection sums up more than a marriage, but all that Plath and Hughes meant to each together, and apart. Mesmerizing from beginning to end.

5. The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters by Sherri Lynn Wood, is included on this list due to my recent love of quilting. I've also added it because it's not merely about fabrics and seams, threads and quilt scores, but how life can be lived looking outside the box. Wood's innovative notions include setting aside the ruler, but there's more within this beautifully photographed book, Sara Remington's shots teeming with colour and excitement. This book solidified my decision to embrace improvisational quilting through Wood's liberated enthusiasm, be it focused on scores, shades, or sheets of fabric built strip by strip. Strongly recommended for quilters and non-quilters alike.