The Writing Life
The oldest child of a high school English teacher, I was six when I wrote my first “book”, a Peanuts parody. In addition to penning bad, maudlin poetry in junior high school (“Alone, all alone/I am but a piece of torn cardboard /Flapping blindly in the wind”)and serving as the Arts Editor on my high school newspaper, I was also the Arts Editor at my college newspaper at the University of New York at Buffalo, where I earned my BA in English in 1985. While writing for the student paper, I also sold my first freelance magazine article and won a city wide play writing contest. The play, Spin Cycle, about two lonely people at a laundromat, was subsequently performed in a theater space in downtown Buffalo.
After graduating college, I worked at a series of trade magazines before landing a job at Soap Opera Digest. It was a hoot working in a place where you got to watch TV all afternoon, but I longed to branch out, and after two years, left to begin freelancing full time. Over the course of my twelve year freelance career, my work appeared in a wide variety of publications, including Seventeen, YM, McCall’s, Fitness, New Woman, Bride’s, Bridal Guide, Inside Sports, Woman’s World, Modern Maturity, Islands, Newsday, and the New York Times. In 1998, my first non fiction book was published: Investing for Retirement (Avon). I also contributed to Lifescripts for Managers, Lifescripts for Employees, and Lifescripts for the Self Employed. (MacMillan, 1999).
Tired of pounding out magazine articles for little pay, I decided to prove I was completely insane by bringing in no money at all, and attempting to write a romance novel. BODY CHECK was published in 2003, followed by FAIR PLAY in 2004 and TOTAL RUSH in 2005 and THE PENALTY BOX in 2006. My next book, CHASING STANLEY, will be out in March, 2007. As if you couldn't tell from the title, it does feature a hockey player.
What Else?
I’ve had the same best friend since I was ten. Her name is Jane and she’s my rock.
The only sport I can stand watching is ice hockey.
I do tai chi three days a week.
I do eat meat.
My favorite artists are Frida Kahlo, Man Ray, and Edward Burne Jones.
My favorite writers are Nora Roberts, Susan Elizabeth Philips, Joyce Carol Oates, Fay Weldon, Maureen Howard, Salman Rushdie, Edna O’Brien, and David Sedaris.
My desert island disk would be Bob Dylan’s “Blood on the Tracks”.
I’d like to learn to rollerblade, read tarot cards, and play the guitar.
I’m a pretty fab Aunt. (Just ask my nieces Aine and Sinead).
I love the beach, especially in winter when no one else is there.
I adore silver jewelry.
I’m a kick ass cook.
Purple is my favorite color.
I believe Elvis is dead.
My personal motto is one coined by Sir Winston Churchill: “Never give in—never, never, never, never. In nothing great or small, large or petty. Never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.”
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