About Me

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I'd need ten lives for everything I want to do and learn. Alas, with only one...  I devour music. (Always looking for recommendations!) I love tv and movies. Among my all-time favorite shows are Wonder Years, Gilmore Girls, The West Wing, Friday Night Lights, Weeds, Entourage, and Game of Thrones. I volunteer-teach creative writing to elementary and middle school students. I'm also involved in the Women2Woman ("W2W") mentoring program. I'd have a whole herd of dogs if I could. Alas, I only have two. I'm a theatre bug. I can act but can't sing a note or follow the simplest dance step. No number of lives could remedy my absolute lack of rhythm. I'm a soccer enthusiast. USWNT #1!  I enjoy cooking and wine, fashion and scented candles. When I'm in a bookstore, super glue couldn't keep my wallet in my bag. I get my work ethic, love of reading, and blue eyes from my mom. I learned more about storytelling from my dad than from any class, workshop, or book. My sense of timing and laugh came from him. 

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Like all bestselling authors, my roots are in finance. [Palm smacks forehead.] The theatrical setting of my novel FORGET WE MET was inspired by my time as the Assistant Controller of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts where I ate lunch in the balcony overlooking rehearsals of the Bolshoi Ballet and led business meetings while the likes of Yo-Yo Ma and Christine Baranski strolled by. Try concentrating on your agenda when that happens. I was also a fund manager for Georgetown University and an instructor for an arts management institute, and spent many years on both coasts for a consulting firm.

 

I've written for several regional and national publicatons including personal favorite skirt! magazine. I contribute reguarly to WomenWriters,Women[‘s]Books literary magazine where I also run the INTERVIEWS and AGENTS' CORNER segments.

 

I enjoy guest blogging which I do quite a bit (i.e., Writer Unboxed, Musings from the Mug, Writers in the Storm, FridayFictionFriend... ) Among my favorites is this one - THE CREATIVY TRINITY: TRUTH|EMPATHY|HOPE.

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I am two-time past Board member for the Women's Fiction Writers Association.

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I am the past-chair adviser for the Rising STAR Award for unpublished fiction.

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I founded the Facebook group, "Penning Suspense."

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I consult and teach on querying and pitching, opening pages, and overall story analysis.

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I also belong to Sisters in Crime, Writer Unboxed, and James River Writers.