My love of storytelling began in a seventh-grade classroom in Wichita, Kansas, where my English teacher read The Outsiders aloud every Friday afternoon. (Any fellow Wichitans here? This would have been at Truesdell Jr. High in … let’s see … 1970? Ouch!!)
I fell hard for Ponyboy—and even harder when I learned that S.E. Hinton was only seventeen years old when she wrote the novel! The idea that someone not much older than me could create something so unforgettable stuck.
Of course, life happens, and while I wrote lots of beginnings, a few endings, and some truly bad short stories, the next 30 years of my life mostly involved raising three boys and moving literally coast to coast (twice!) following jobs and opportunities. We’re currently in Summerville, South Carolina but are always looking for the next great adventure, so who knows where we’ll land next?
All along the way I promised myself … one day I would write my novel.
That day came on December 20, 2024, when I retired from the company I had worked for since 2002. Beginning in January of 2025, I started taking classes, buying software, exploring ideas and reading everything I could get my hands on about writing a novel. In April I started, and by August I had my first messy draft of my first novel, a cozy mystery titled Steeped in Gossip.
Then came the editing. But we won’t go there.
It’s done now, polished and ready to be pitched (I think!) and I’m well into my second novel in the series, Overdue for Murder. Woohoo!
In addition to cozies, I have a literary novel started called Bobbie, and two mystery/fantasy novels that include magic, one titled Whatever Happened to Junie Talbot, and the other untitled at this time. I also have a series of middle-grade books planned.
I hope I live long enough to get everything written that I want to write.
Personally, I’ve been married to an amazing man (Fred) for 48 years, and we have three sons and six grandchildren, all in Kansas. (Good thing we love road trips!)
So here I am, living my best life. It truly is never too late to write the book that’s been waiting for you.