Welcome, please scroll down and explore my site!
About me
As an undergraduate at the University of Illinois, I studied writing under the tutelage of Mark Costello and Jean Thompson. I was a publicist for the University of Chicago Press for five years. Since then, I've lived in Wisconsin, where my husband and I raised two remarkable daughters, and I had a fulfilling career teaching in public schools. During the long winters, I participate in curling, the ice sport, at the Madison Curling Club where I serve on the Board of Directors. Now that I'm an empty-nester, I enjoy traveling to faraway lands and nearby wonders with my husband in our transit van camper.
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Writings
Most of the time a character comes to me, and then I imagine him or her overcoming an obstacle. My characters draw upon their inner reserves of strength to persevere no matter what comes their way: false accusations, life in a concentration camp, and coping with the death (or murder) of a loved one. I write short stories, plays, and novels. Please view my portfolio page to see a few examples.
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Books I Love
Great literature reaches all ages. From Winnie-the-Pooh to Because of Winn-Dixie or Great Expectations to Great Gatsby, character-driven literature intrigues me. My favorite novels have characters that stay with me long after I've finished reading them. If you'd like to see what I've been reading, take a look at my reviews in Goodreads.
Family History
Family stories fuel my imagination, and I love conducting research to discover photos, artifacts, and historical information about my ancestors. Recently, I found the actual ship manifest with my mother's immigration to America. A fourteen-year-old orphan of World War II, she sailed alone to live with relatives she'd never met in Milwaukee. Not allowed to speak of experiences in concentration camps, she internalized her pain and grief. She attended Roosevelt University, where she met my father, a born and bred Chicagoan. Their unconventional wedding at City Hall, followed by a year-long trip to Europe, was a prelude to an unconventional and rocky family life. Heroic and flawed, their stories and my own childhood are the fabric of my historical novel.
"The secret of getting ahead is getting started."
Mark Twain