Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I, Madeline, grew up in the Midwest and it gave me a wonderful understanding of how pleasant the US can be as a "melting pot". This has its upside and its downside. If everything turns to just "vanilla" and we lose our sense of ethnicity, we all lose something. But if we can embrace each other's ethnic backgrounds and savor them, we all stand to enrich our lives. I found that seeing, eating and enjoying all different cultures is most enjoyable. There's nothing like a Greek or Italian festival, along with a multitude of others, to enrich both our appetites (YUM) and our culture. Gospel choirs and Irish dancing are all terrific events.
Now my co-author, Shane, grew up in a small town in Texas and he's had a totally different experience. Luckily he traveled a lot, so his experience grew exponentially.
From Shane's point of view - having traveled the Mediterranean in the Navy - I would wind up in the slums of many European cities, eating off the street vendors or the local cafes, therefore mingling with the locals and their culture. I learned to eat foods that I would never have even tried prior to that, but find I still crave them to this day. We'd dance the Greek folk dances and drink Ouzo with people we couldn't understand. It actually was one of the greatest experiences I could've ever asked for....to be a "local" in a foreign environment. I have a respect - I could have gained nowhere else, for people from all walks of life.
We make a unique team with varied experiences that meld together beautifully.
When did you first start writing?
Actually we've both written all our lives in some form or another. I don't think we realize how much we all write whether it's in business or just correspondence. But just recently we decided to have some fun with it and write some ebooks. I guess you could say in the last year or so, but we incorporate a lifetime of experiences.
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