Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I was born in Charleston, South Carolina (USA), where my father was born and raised. My mother was a transplanted Yankee, having moved from Queen with her twin sister to live with their older sister's family. The southern storytelling roots run deep on my father's side, and my two New-York-City-fireman uncles on my mother's side could tell tall tales with a Yankee flavor.
No matter where or with whom we were sharing a holiday table, the stories never stopped. And even when repeated every year (never the exact same way twice, of course), they never stopped offering me amusement and insight into my large and diverse extended family. In my childhood, my family moved back and forth between South Carolina and Delaware, and the differences between the North and South in the States was indelibly etched on my soul, preparing me to deeply embrace the idea of walking in another's shoes and seeing things from many perspectives before making a judgment.
What's the story behind your latest book?
My most recent published book, THE EX FILES, is a chicklit tale of a young woman who has marriage on her to do list, but no current man in her life. When challenged to prove she hasn't overlooked Mr. Right because her list of husbandly qualifications is a little too stringent, she embarks upon a quest to see if she has been a tad overly judgmental.
This idea sparked from watching my daughter navigate the dating world of the modern young woman, which had become a little more hazardous to navigate what with his and her ambitions and lifestyles not always being as easy to reconcile. It was fun to play in this world, especially since I married my husband in college, and we've never really had to navigate those differences.
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