All About Me
Do you ever wonder? I know, you want to know "wonder what?"
Well, I'm getting to that...
When I walk through the neighborhood--in some kind of lame attempt at fitness--I wonder what kind of lives get lived inside the houses I pass?
I wonder what the woman with the two, screaming kids in the shopping mall restaurant, during the lunch rush, could possibly be thinking? How does she ignore that outrageous amount of noise? Is she debating the decision about whether or not to buy the impractical cocktail dress that she doesn't have an occasion to wear? She probably came to the mall for a new bedspread, to impress her mother-in-law. But she can't bring herself to actually buy it...
I see a snip on the evening news and think, "What if?"
This type of thing drives my husband crazy! Bless him for putting up with me and supporting me in the crazy journey I've chosen to follow. But, that's another story.
I grew up in Southern California, part of a great family. My mom says that my hunger to write started with my 4th grade teacher. I'll take her word for it, as I don't remember when, exactly, I knew I had to write.
I remember wanting a horse in the worst way for my birthday one year. Instead, my father gave me a picture of a horse he had cut into pieces. He said I had to work so many hours for each piece to earn the horse. I think he thought I'd give up, and that he'd get out of it, but I labored away until I had every piece in that frame. It's my fervent belief that this exercise has played a large part in my conviction that I can have anything I want in life, if I work hard enough for it.
Problem for him was that I'd now figured out how to get all the other stuff I wanted. I ended up with a bunch of horses. I entered them in horse shows and raced a beautiful Arabian-Quarter Horse, named Marla, in endurance competitions in the mountains.
Life has taken lots of turns since I've grown up. I've had my own bookkeeping company in a small town in Colorado and ordered fabric for a men's clothing manufacturer in San Diego. I learned a lot about people by running hotels in La Jolla and Palm Desert, California, and then a country club in Rancho Mirage. I still miss the members, who became a sort of extended family.
Then I moved to Minnesota to run a start-up Internet technology company. Stayed for seven years and then my wimpy California winter aversion took over. That said, what I learned about technology is a lot. Most of all, I discovered that creating compelling content was something that applied in business, as well as in fiction. And, that spun my life in a new direction, yet again.
Now I run my own firm, Marketing Interactions, Inc., and help B2B companies generate more sales-ready leads with e-marketing and content strategies. And, it's a blast. On top of that, I've got a book coming out from McGraw-Hill in the fall of 2009, E-Marketing Strategies for the Complex Sale, that helps me share my passion for engaging people (prospects & customers) with writing. I hope you'll check it out.
Lucky for me, writing fiction relieves a lot of stress. Getting the chance to live inside a character for a few hours each day gives me a new perspective, lets me stretch my creative legs, and explore all kinds of things I'd otherwise never have time to think about. I still plan on publishing fiction, but right now I'm writing fiction for fun while I focus on my business writing. But stay tuned, there's definitely more to come.
I have a B.A. in English Literature from San Francisco State University and belong to Romance Writers of America, From the Heart Romance Writers and The Golden Network. Oh, didn't I mention that? I was a finalist in the Golden Heart writing contest for unpublished romance writers through RWA in 2005. That was an experience to remember! One I'd definitely love to repeat.
My wonderful, supportive husband, our diva Austrailian Shepherd, Bella, and I live in Palm Desert, California.