I grew up on the south side of Chicago and in a very busy weekend, got married,
graduated college and moved to Los Angeles.
Although my degree is in Fine Arts, all I ever wanted to be was a writer and
I've been doing it in one form or another for as long as I can remember.
My shining moments in elementary and high school always involved stories or
poetry I'd written. I wrote news stories and a weekly column in my college
newspaper. My first job out of college was working on the newsletter of a
finance company. I worked for a public relations firm and wrote press releases
and biographies. Later I wrote proposals for video projects and television
shows that went through various stages of development.
I tried writing screenplays and wrote three. I sold one and another was a winner
in a Writers' Digest contest.
I was lucky enough to be a stay-at-home mom and did all kinds of volunteering
at my son's schools including editing and writing several newsletters.
I wrote essays and small pieces that ran in the Los Angeles Times, the Daily News
and Woman's Day among others. My short romantic and mystery fiction appeared in
Woman's World, and Futures magazine.
From time I was a thirteen-year-old babysitter cooking for the kids I babysat, I
dreamed of writing a book about babysitting. It took a little longer than I'd
expected, but BLUE SCHWARTZ AND NEFERTITI'S NECKLACE was published in 2006.
My affair with crochet began in Las Vegas. I had always had a fascination with
crochet, particularly granny squares, but thought there was some magic involved
with making them that was beyond me. And then everything changed that day in
Vegas when I saw the kids' kit in FAO Schwartz. If the instructions were easy
enough for kids, I thought they might work for me.
My first granny square was
missing a corner, but when I tried again, all four corners were there. I was in
awe of my own accomplishment. I had found the magic. I went granny square crazy
until pretty soon I didn't need directions anymore. Then I learned there were
more squares than just basic grannies and I made squares with sunflowers in the
middle and other patterns. I moved beyond squares and made flowers, hearts,
bookmarks and more.
I was in love with crochet and began to make scarves, purses, afghans, and shawls.
I started carrying my hooks everywhere. A plane trip became a pile of granny
square wash cloths, or part of a shawl. A vacation in Hawaii turned into a
tote bag.
And then I added some mystery and a series was born.
I may write about crocheters versus knitters, but I do both crafts. I mixed my love of the Monterey Peninsula and knitting and it became the Yarn Retreat series.
My real wish is that my books brings readers some fun and that when they read the last page they are left with a smile.
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