Writing about oneself is difficult, especially for fiction writers who, as Lawrence Bloch so aptly said, “tell lies for fun and profit.” I used to fictionalize my diaries as a teen, so please read on at your own risk…I will try to stick to the truth, but one never knows.
And in the spirit of the truth (and brevity), I’ll position this as a Q&A, using questions I have been asked in the past and thereby hoping to avoid the more tedious details.
Where were you born?
An easy one. Manitowoc, Wisconsin, a small city on the shores of Lake Michigan.
And education?
Undergraduate degree in philosophy and Latin from Fontbonne College in St. Louis, Mo. It was all-girls back then. And I pursued the philosophy in graduate school at Indiana University where I got my MA. I read in the NYTimes recently that a philosophy degree is becoming popular again, especially the ethics component. A good thing, I think.
Have you written your whole life?
That diary was a start. And in my day jobs, which ranged from working in public television in Pittsburgh, Pa, to teaching philosophy, to editing a bioethics journal, I always wrote. And in the back of my head simmered a desire to write a novel someday. When my two oldest were in grade school and the baby was at home, I teamed up with a friend and we wrote women's fiction every morning while our two preschoolers played in the next room. We found a wonderful agent and published (some together, some alone) 25 to 30 novels. Mysteries followed some ten years later, first a quilting series and now the Seaside Knitters, who have become great friends.
And your family?
A husband, Don, two sons and one daughter—and a son-in-law and two daughters-in-law. And at last count, three amazing grandchildren with one more on the way. In fact, their parents and aunts and uncles are all pretty amazing, too. My husband and I live in Prairie Village, Kansas.
When do you write?
I used to write in the mornings—from 5 to 7—before going to my job as editor of custom publications for a veterinary healthcare publisher. But as of last April, I've plunged into the world of a full-time fiction writer. My day is more flexible now (except, like this summer, when deadlines loomed), but I try to keep a fairly regular office schedule.