[close] Like most writers, I always had a brain bursting with scenarios and a. . .drawer, shoebox, folder. . .of unfinished manuscripts. My first published story, "McTammany's Bed of Roses," appeared online in The Emporium Gazette, Issue 46, February 2003. With that sale, I earned enough to buy a novel in the paperback section at Wal-Mart or a couple of trade-ins at the local paperback swap-n-shop.

But I was a published author at age 54 - and I was flying!

Why did I wait so long? I grew up during a time when parents believed their girls should take typing and shorthand, master a keypunch machine, become competent fodder for the secretarial pool. You can't make a living as a writer, you know.

So I worked in office and museum and university settings, and typed words dictated by others. I became a file clerk, an executive secretary, an office manager. I married my favorite protag - no regrets there - raised three most excellent children, who later gave us five most excellent grandchildren.

But in my head and heart, the dream still simmered. And my favorite protag - we'll call him Wayne - knew this. When I left my last job, he said enough, and threw his full support behind me.

Now my short stories have appeared in numerous online and print venues, with anthology contributions to The Rocking Chair Reader (in the Coming Home edition and Family Gatherings). A Cup of Comfort for Weddings: Something Old, Something New and Good Old Days Magazine.

Finally, after years of rewrites and the unwavering patience of my "do or die" critique group (Writing Well), Hoodoo Money was released by Draumr Publishing in May 2008. It's the kind of romantic suspense novel I love to read, set in contemporary Louisiana and Texas, and will be followed by a sequel.

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