About Me
My background
Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, I now live on the east coast of Florida.
I have always loved our westward expansion, and in high school, every term paper and book report I wrote was on our Native Americans and the old west–especially after I fell in love with Jeff Chandler who played Cochise in the movie Broken Arrow. Now that goes back some, but he inspired me like no one else ever did. I was 12 years old, the usual age for girl’s to develop crushes on movie stars. Later, as an adult, I visited the very places I had studied and actually stayed on several reservations, making friends with Apaches, Navajos, Sioux, and others on my summer vacations through the help of missionary friends living and working there. I even visited the place where Cochise had one of his strongholds.
I never planned to write a book, but when my son Troy dared me to do it one day, I accepted his dare. I knew if I wrote anything it would be about Apaches and Cochise would be in there somewhere. When I sat down to write Apache Moon, I didn’t realize how much history I had absorbed or learned over the years, and the book just flowed out of me–I finished it in three months. I asked my son to read the completed manuscript and waited breathlessly for his opinion. His only comment was, “It reads like a book.” So much for a fan in the family!
My writing roots
Once I started the book of my heart, I found I could not stop, and it ended up a trilogy. When Apache Moon was published, the title was changed to Apache Warrior and the publisher wanted it to end with the hero, Kayto, and heroine, Amanda, getting married in the first book. I agreed, but it broke my heart. Later, I had so many requests for the “rest of the story” and “what happened to the other characters in the book," that I finally wrote the sequels, Apache Promise, Apache Winter and Apache Lover.
Kensington also published the first in my Navajo series, Navajo Night. Again requests "for what happened to the other characters in the book" followed and I wrote Navajo Dawn and Navajo Sunset.
My most recent book, Shoshone Sunrise, is about the Shoshone tribe.
I also published an inspirational book titled Trivia, Tea and Me, about life as a divorced, single mom and how God took the bad things in life and turned them around for good. (click on More in Navigation Bar at top of page to find website page for Trivia, Tea and Me and link to Amazon.)
My books are available as paperbacks or eBooks at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. See Website Pages on Navigation Bar at top of page for book descriptions and links to Amazon.com.
My style
I write about the taboo love between Native American males and white women in the 1800s of Southwest America. My stories prove that love knows no color, creed or race. It happens in the heart when and where you least expect it, and if allowed to grow, can conquer differences in culture, hatred, and personal loss. I include real historical facts and some notable persons from the time and territories, as well as beliefs, customs, and culture of the tribe I'm writing about.
I have also been published in "Charisma" and "Literary Lift-Off" magazines, and write inspirational vignettes, verses for greeting cards, and stories for my grandchildren.