I like most kinds of pie, except for shoo-fly, though I’ve never tried raisin and don’t want to.- I don’t like meat. I haven’t eaten meat since I was about 15 years old—which is way before I even knew there was the word “vegetarian.”
- I have had 3 serious boyfriends in my life—two of whom I married, one of whom I am still married to. The other boyfriend has turned out to be a good friend—30 years later.
- I was a serious ballet student until I was 15 and was in a car accident that messed up my balance—concussion, then inner ear problems.
- My first major in college was dance and theater. My first and only college theater role was a belly dancer in Man of La Mancha. But I was in many community theater productions before college.
- I grew up living in a mobile home on Fishpot Road in Raccoon Township in Pa.
- At one time we had 28 cats.
- Now I have one cat and one dog and two children. That’s enough for me.
- I have a serious addition to the TV show Supernatural. Plus, I do live my Saturday night British comedies.
- I have one sister. She is the mother of my three nieces. They all live in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
- I met my husband at a party while I was sharing a house with two men in Manassas, Va.
- I moved 10 times in one year.
- I’ve been married for 25 years—well, it will be 25 in May—and my husband is the Deputy Director at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Va. Which sounds kinda fancy, but it really just means that he works A LOT.
- Having my daughters, Emma and Tess, in my life has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me—and the most challenging, all at once. Yes, indeedy.
- My grandfather’s cousin was Jean Harlow, which has turned out to be a gift I never expected. On many levels—stay tuned for more about this.
- I’ve always loved to write. It was a revelation when I realized I could get paid for it.
- I worked as an editor for years, mostly for nonprofits. My favorite job was working for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, where I wrote and produced a newsletter and edited a variety of materials. The newsletter was not a real PR-ish vehicle. I reported in math education issues, which was fascinating.
- I won awards for my newsletter writing.
- My second and final major in college was journalism. I focused on print media, newspapers mainly. I thought it was the most practical choice. I was wrong.
- I’m wrong a good bit. But I’m working on it.
- Scrapbooking is not my life. But I do like to scrapbook, especially with a group of friends. Wink.
- I worked as a freelance writer for years and have been published in a lot of magazines, both on line and in print. But it really doesn’t matter in the fiction world, where I started over from scratch.
- Reinventing myself has become a way of life.
- Politeness and manners matter to me. I don’t care how old-fashioned some people think it is. I don’t like it when someone excuses bad behavior in a professional relationship with “It’s just business.” GOOD business is about relationships.
- In real life, I don’t have many friends. It’s hard to be friends with a writer who spends most of her day in front of the computer. I rarely “do lunch.” I don’t do shopping trips. I don’t have the money or the time. So, the friends I do have? I cherish and hold close.
