1. I didn’t want to be a writer when I was a kid.
I wasn’t one of those kids who doodled stories with crayon and chalk. I didn’t think about being an author at all. My sister was the bookworm and dabbled in writing. I was more into music and art and thought I would end up teaching one or the other. A few life twists changed that plan, and it wasn’t until I was in my twenties when the fiction-writing bug hit me.
I was, however, a daydreamer. When I discovered in high school and college that I liked stringing words together to make pretty sentences, the writing bug bit me. Hard.
2. I read Gone With The Wind in 5th Grade—and my quest for writing Happily-Ever-Afters was launched.
I read the book because the movie was coming to town. Now, this was a big deal back in the 60s. Our little town didn’t have a theater, so we had to go to the next town to see it. I cried. When Rhett walked out of Scarlett’s life, I bawled my eyes out—right there in the theater in front of my 5th grade teacher! I hadn’t reached the end of the book yet, so I was completely befuddled by the ending. What I didn't realize back then was that I'd be seeking (and writing) Happily-Ever-Afters ever since,
3. Some books take me a very long time to write.
I’ve had books I’ve poured over on for years, off and on. And others that take a few months. I once wrote 24,000 words in a weekend to meet a deadline, so that one was written pretty quick. My suspense novels seem to take the longest—I suppose that has something to do with tricky plots and details. I’ve started books and not gotten back to them for a decade. And those people haunt me. They really do!
I often say I write to silence the people in my head. Honestly, sometimes characters just pop up and say, “I’m here! I need my story written. Okay? Go!” Argh! And I never have difficulty naming these people because they generally let their names be known. First names, anyway. The name will come to me and I see it written on the page. Last names, I might have to ponder over. If I get a character name wrong, that character will nag at me. Sometimes it’s a minor change. Sometimes not. If I don’t get it right from the git-go, I have difficulty moving on. My people need their names!
5. I am not an avid television watcher. Although… Since streaming was invented, I’ve become a bit more connected to television programming. I still have my days when the television does not get turned on, at all, all day long. My typical routine is, maybe, news at noon. And definitely news at 5 p.m. From there, I typically search for a movie or a series I can get into. That’s where the streaming part comes in. When I watch in the evenings, I tell myself that it’s “research…” 😊
6. I've written non-fiction under another name.
The last non-fiction project was to write the 30-year history of a non-profit organization. Whew! That took over a year, from interviews to digging through years of files. But I did it. Besides that publication, I’ve written articles, journal pieces, academic book chapters, training manuals, Op-Ed pieces, curricula, white papers, and books. I do like the written word.
7. I live between a soybean field and a cornfield.
Truth. I live in a very rural area of Midwest farm country. I call it the Heartland. I’m the last house in town, if you want to call an official village of 700 people a town. There truly is a very large soybean field behind my house that goes for as far as I can see. Next year, it will corn. And then beans again....
8. I’ve moved 20 times in my life. I plan to stay put now.
My last move was coming back into my childhood home after my parents passed. I’m here to stay. My wandering days are over.
9. I’ve flown so many times I cannot keep track of how many airports I’ve been through.
And speaking of wandering.... I traveled monthly and sometimes weekly for the day job for nearly twenty years. I lost track of the number of airports I've been through long ago. I’ve visited Japan, Canada, and Mexico in my travels. I still need to see 11 states to get all 50. In 2020, I retired. I still have dreams about getting delayed in airports, can’t find my boarding pass, or realize I’m running through the airport to catch a flight without my shoes. I’m hoping these dreams will subside soon!
10. My significant other is my high school boyfriend.
No, we didn’t marry young and stay together all this time. In fact, we broke up in high school. Forty-two years later, when I moved back home, he was sort of waiting in the wings. Circumstances happened, and we were both single again. The rest, as they say, is history.
So there you have it. Some fun facts about me. Tell me one fun fact about you?