What Write Have I Got?

It’s possible that I am the luckiest woman in the world. I’m not rich, I’m not famous, my daily life is nothing glamorous, and I am subject to petty irritations and cranky moods when I forget, as I often do, just how gobsmacking fortunate I am. I know this because I have lived through enough decades and just enough upheavals when life wasn’t playing nice to avoid taking the good stuff for granted.  I live in a modest but ever-so-comfortable house in a lovely little town surrounded by vineyards and mountains, my husband and life partner is my best friend and forever crush, my sons are happy, healthy, and successful adults who are also a great pleasure to be with, and I have wonderful friends and a warm, welcoming, wacky extended family.

On top of all this, I took early retirement from full-time employment, so now I get to do what I want most of the time. That means I get to write. I’ve always written — it’s something of a compulsion with me — but nowadays I get to Write For Real.

I write across a variety of genres. My debut novel, The Moon Ran After Her, is a work in progress based closely on the firsthand accounts of  family members who survived the Armenian Genocide of 1915. I’m planning a second novel, The Cats of Byzantium,  a young adult historical fiction with elements of magical realism. Other projects include: The Tear In The Veil, a middle-grade chapter book, Teetering On The Edge: Stories from the Brink, a collection of short stories for young adults; The Stargazer Room Guest Book, an epistolary novel set in a bed-and-breakfast; and Godzilla Is My Very Best Friend, a collection of nonfiction short stories from my life.

I’ve had a curious assortment of previous careers, including as an actor in theater and television, a middle school educator, a nonprofit director and youth advocate, the owner/operator of a specialty lumber business, and as the former two-term mayor of a small city in Southern California. At one point in my youth I was a circus performer, riding a llama, a water buffalo, and a Brahma bull in front of cheering crowds, quite without my parents’ knowledge.

So, I’ve got a few stories to tell. Back to it . . .