Books have always fascinated me. From the moment I discovered them as a little girl, to my teenage years when I decided to organize my uncle’s collection of first edition titles, and then my college years when I decided to major in Library Science and History.

Writing has always been second nature. I realized how far back when my sister and I gave my parents a 50^th Anniversary party. We decided to arrange a display of artifacts from their lives together and discovered that my mother had saved all the letters we wrote as youngsters, at Girl Scout camp, and for special occasions.  She commented she always enjoyed my letters from college because they were so descriptive.

When Wayne and I moved to Caroline County in 1976, I had some time on my hands so a friend handed me a box of romances and said “go for it.” I read a couple and found myself reaching for more. Suddenly there were no more and I decided, “I can write one of these.”

And I did! In the spring of 1979, I finished my first manuscript and remember mailing the customary first three and final chapters to Harlequin’s New York office. By then Heather and Hunter had been born and we took daily walks to the mailbox looking for a response. One day, I received one! My manuscript had been forwarded to the London office! That led to another six weeks of walking to the mailbox, until I received the manuscript with a note, “not quite what we’re looking for, but you have great potential. We hope you will query us again with future projects.”

That was my first rejection letter.

I continued to write, plan writer’s conferences, attend writer’s workshops and took long-distance/online writing classes. I recall a phone call from my Writer’s Digest instructor urging me not to give up because of a rejection from Silhouette. I still read a letter I received from Gary Provost encouraging me to “be persistent and make every word count.”

But, three children, two hip surgeries, little league, civic obligations and one growing library system which I founded sidetracked me. I put the creative pen away and wrote newspaper articles and library newsletters instead.  I became immersed in my county and got to know many of the citizens through the library.

In 2013, I retired from the Caroline Library, pulled out my old manuscripts and found myself wondering, “what if I make a change here?  A change there?  Update things?”

On December 19, 2014, I released Spicer’s Challenge in eBook format. Dreams Fulfilled was released as an eBook two months later.  In 2016, I wanted to see my books in print and decided to publish the first two with Otter Bay Books.

Then I discovered the world of Indie publishing and Newfound Love was released as the third book in The Row Series.

2018 was a busy year with the release of Persistent Intruder in January, Love Again in March, Shadows of Déjà vu in August and Northwest to Love in December. There are many more “what if” stories waiting to come alive.