About Me
Edgar Award Nominee
Literary Titan Gold Medal Award
Readers Choice Silver Medal
Preditors & Editors Readers Choice Award
Coffee Time Reviewers Choice Award
MY BOOKS:
Most of my stories are mystery and/or suspense about women in crisis, probably because I've faced so many in my lifetime. I highlight a problem and offer possible solutions while celebrating the inner strength women sometimes forget they possess.
I ventured to the 'dark side' with a paranormal, THE HOUSE ON SERPENT LAKE, and loved it so I wrote FROM THE PAINTED TOMB. I'm currently working on a mystery with paranormal elements.
I love things that go bump in the night whether they're serial killers or other strange creatures. I've written about those pesky beings that intrude on our lives with deadly force in several of my novels. I hope you enjoy them.
Editor:
As an editor, I specialize in your 1st Chapter, the most critical pages of your novel. Surveys taken in bookstores have clocked the time a customer selects and opens your book and decides to either buy or select another book as 7 SECONDS. You must engage that customer by your opening page, usually your first three or four paragraphs, or you've lost them. The same rule applies to the "Look Inside" feature on books listed on Amazon.
What does it take to keep them reading? Your hook of course, but what does that involve? If you're not sure your opening is dynamic enough to entice a browser to buy, I can help you. Along with story structure, the class on a novel's opening pages was of special interest and study. Please check my page on Your Critical 1st Chapter.
Experience: Education:
Certified editor: Edited novels for a small press
Acquiring editor for a small press
Editor-in-Chief for The Knight Writers Magazine
Freelance editor
Led 1st Chapter workshops for various writers' clubs in two states
Instructional speaking engagements through various libraries in SoCal
Government security clearance as required to proofread/edit secret aerospace docs
An instructional how-to plot complete with charts I designed
Short stories of approx 8,000-10,000 words published in a national women's magazine as well as anthologies, and Chicken Soup for the Soul
Short stories published in literary journals
Judged a Midwest Fiction Writing Contest
Mystery/Suspense Novels
Paranormal Novels
Wrote articles for 3 newspapers
Wrote articles for Women on Writing
The University of Iowa
Gotham Novel Writers Workshop
Creative Writing, Auraria Higher Education Center, Denver
Writers Digest Novel Writing Course
I love to share what I've learned along the way. If I can help you, click the button to CONTACT ME:
