I grew up outside.

My childhood, in upstate New York, included an odd assortment of hobbies like target practice, knife throwing, learning to spin a rope, mastering a unicycle and learning to ride a horse (English style, unfortunately).

I recall long summers, climbing trees, exploring the woods behind our house and otherwise running wild.

Most of the July and August I went around barefooted.

I brought home every injured animal I found and nursed a few back to health.

Reading? – not really. I had my nose stuck under rocks and rotting logs a lot more often then I had them stuck in a book.

My mother read stories to all her kids and tried valiantly to get me to read. I remember telling her that I’d rather do things than read about them. What an arrogant little brat.

WHERE DO YOU LIKE TO TRAVEL?

I enjoy traveling to out of the way places. Last summer, my husband and I visited the Brooks Range in Alaska’s Interior. During our stay, I was anxious to pick blueberries, but our host asked me to wait until he could come along. I incorrectly assumed he wanted to pick berries as well, until the outing took place and he did not pick, but instead scanned the blueberry patch with a 357-magnum pistol holstered to his hip. Apparently, the bears enjoy picking blueberries too.

I also like the warm climates where I can slip into a scuba tank, jump off the back of a boat and visit a coral reef.

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN NOT WRITING?

Oh, serious stuff, like research and writing seminars.

Or so I’d like you to think. But more than likely you’ll find me doing some ridiculous thing, like trying to catch one of the chipmunks on a string. You know there is no such thing as a free lunch, as Sparky here is finding out.

When not annoying the wildlife, I annoy my husband.

My hobbies include a wide range of interests like, swimming, hiking and rockhounding. My husband and I are avid amateur gold prospectors and have hunted in North Carolina, Colorado, California and, most recently, Alaska. During the colder months, I enjoy walking, swimming and yoga..

ANY TIPS FOR WRITERS?

The best way to learn something is to do it. Joining a writing organization like Romance Writers of America is a good investment. Another way to learn the craft is to taking a writing class or finding a critique group will all help you improve.

Reading the kinds of books you wish to write is a must as well as reading broadly.

Don’t forget to get out from behind your desk and move around some. Exercise feeds the brain.

WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR IDEAS?

There is a tree in my backyard that grows ideas, instead of apples. But it is only in season one month a year. The rest of the time I find inspiration in a variety of places. The idea for Winter Woman came from a book on women of the west. The spark that inspired TURNER’S WOMAN came from one sentence in a history book that mentioned American spies in Mexican California and THE TRAPPER occurred to me while viewing a bodkin at the New York Historical Society’s Museum. The idea for my first novella, HIS BROTHER’S BRIDE came to me one morning just as I was awakening. Often I think of a premise or opening scene then have to figure out how to build a story around it. That’s what happened with HIGH PLAINS BRIDE. I knew the heroine would hold the hero at gun point, but not why. Similarly, with OUTLAW BRIDE, I knew I had a woman who had been in jail who was about to break a stranger out of prison. Then I needed a darn good reason for her to do that!

WHAT MOVIES DO YOU WATCH?

Foreign films and independent.

Just kidding.

I go to the movies often and am extremely easy to please. I love romance, of course, but also action-adventure, mysteries, thrillers, comedies and good ghost stories. I have no problem plopping down in a theater full of kids to see children or young adult movies. I love old classics and cry every time I see CASABLANCA. So basically anything from FINDING NEMO to THE GODFATHER is fine with me.

Oh, and anything in 3-D!

WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO?

Classical, of course.

Actually, my tastes are very eclectic. My activity often predicates the music I prefer. For example, I write to opera. Bluegrass and Folk are good for cooking and chores. At dinner I listen to torch singers and old standards. When driving, I sing to my favorite musicals or country music and prefer relaxing sounds scapes when practicing yoga. Favorite artists include Louie Armstrong, Patsy Cline, Jimmy Buffet, Woodie Guthrie, Rufus Wainwright and Johnny Cash.

WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO?

Classical, of course.

Actually, my tastes are very eclectic. My activity often predicates the music I prefer. For example, I write to opera. Bluegrass and Folk are good for cooking and chores. At dinner I listen to torch singers and old standards. When driving, I sing to my favorite musicals or country music and prefer relaxing soundscapes when practicing yoga. Favorite artists include Louie Armstrong, Patsy Cline, Jimmy Buffet, Woodie Guthrie, Rufus Wainwright and Johnny Cash.

WHAT HOBBIES DO YOU ENJOY?

I’m an outdoors kind of gal. So, if you can do it outside, I usually enjoy it, with the notable exception of golf (too organized and too frustrating) and skiing (too dangerous and too dangerous). I’ve always appreciated a good hole, whether it’s to crawl into, dig out of, search through or plant something in. Likewise I enjoy getting dirty. To that end my hobbies include hiking, gardening, gold mining and hunting for gems & minerals. I also used to like to make mud pies, but I’ve move on. Now I use a metal detector or a dredge for prospecting and have gone to Alaska twice searching for gold nuggets. Closer to home, I have searched several southern rivers for fossils, visited Maine for tourmaline, scouted the Adirondacks for garnets and found some very pretty sapphires in North Carolina. I am also an advanced scuba diver, though I don’t get to do that as often as I would like because I prefer warm tropical waters, sadly lacking in my region of the United States. I did once dive in a very deep freshwater lake in the Catskills. After I recovered from my hypothermia, I decided that if you need a 6 mm wetsuit to go swimming, maybe you don’t need to go.

I do enjoy a few indoor activities. Reading is one, naturally, and baking, not to be confused with cooking. I’ve even taken a baking class or two. My latest favorite things to make (and eat) are seven layer cakes, popovers, English toffee and gateau Basque, which is a wondrous little dessert that falls somewhere between a cookie and a pie.

I create stain glass windows including a few commissions, which I usually turn down to preserve my writing time, make fusible dichotic glass jewelry and quilt. I have been quilting for over thirty years, longer than I have been writing fiction. I enjoy the piecing and the quilting and still struggle with a fabric addiction. Quilting is a little like writing. You stitch together scenes, put a nice cushy filling in those scenes and then carefully bind the entire creation into a cohesive, pleasing whole. A book might warm your heart, but a quilt can warm your toes!

I’m a lover of travel, especially spots of great natural beauty. I enjoy places that are near water. Trips do not have to be far afield. I also loved my frequent jaunts into NYC to explore museums and various neighborhoods. Everyone should have a chance to see Times Square at night and walk over the Brooklyn Bridge.

top