My path started back after being rejected from graduate school...

After always reaching and achieving my academic goals as a teen and an adult (valedictorian; fluent in French by 17; got into UC Berkeley), I’d just gotten rejected from graduate school in journalism. I was 30.

What was I going to do with my life? I was working as an assistant manager at Blockbuster Video (remember such stores?!), and was reeling from confusion, lack of direction, and felt unmoored from life. I had no clear direction. I was lost.

When I finally got up the courage to reread my application to graduate school in journalism (I only applied to one school - d'oh!), I saw that I’d written there in black and white the deep reason why I wanted to go to grad school and study journalism was because I wanted to be a novelist.

I read that and it hit me. Duh! No wonder they didn’t let me in. And, if that’s what I said I wanted, well, I had better get to it. I realized it was time for action. I realized the only way to be a writer was to write.

But where to begin such an overwhelming task? 

I did what a book nerd like me would do in the pre-internet days: I went to the library and read the local activities announcement board. Right away, I found a group that met at a local café and joined it. I started my first novel at that very first meeting.

Through that group, and through another I joined soon after (and where I met my husband, bestselling author Ezra Barany – more on him later), I got on track and started working on that first novel.

Fast forward to 2024: I’ve written 16 novels in three genres, 5 nonfiction how-to books, and hundreds of educational and inspirational articles, and have self-published 10 novels -- so far. More are on the way. I’ve won a grand prize on one of my novels and was a finalist in several contests for other novels. I have 2-3 books in process at any given time, and I make time to write while running my creative, ever-evolving business helping fiction writers, creative entrepreneurs, and other adventurous thinkers.

I’m so excited to be bringing my knowledge, passion, and vision to you!

Creative courage means facing the unknown that lies within and to manifest that in the here and now. Creative courage also means having patience to allow our art to unfold and mature. Kindness to oneself and joy in the process are also necessary to the act of creativity.