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I was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and began watching Johnny Carson's Tonight Show at the age of six. Like DEAR MR. CARSON protagonist Sunnie Sundstrom I too wrote a screenplay in 1978 called GIRL ON THE LAM that I hoped would star teen sensations Kristy McNichol and Robby Benson. Hollywood has yet to come calling but may one day discover this lost masterpiece.
DEAR MR. CARSON is my fourth novel. My previous novels are RAINEY'S LAMENT (The Overlook Press, 1999; and Virago Press/Little, Brown & Co. [UK] 1998), THE REMARKABLE JOURNEY OF MISS TRANBY QUIRKE (Virago Press/Little, Brown & Co. [UK] 1996), and THROWING ROSES (The Permanent Press, 1993). I have a bachelor's degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a master's degree in creative writing from The University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, where I spent a lot of time at the pub and studied under now-Poet Laureate Andrew Motion. In 1994 I received a Hawthornden Fellowship to the beautiful but drafty Hawthornden Castle in Lasswade, Scotland. From 1989 to 1998 I lived mostly in Great Britain, spending time as a nanny, a house parent to handicapped teens, a student, and a free-lance journalist.
Today I live in suburban Milwaukee with my dynamic house cat, Hamlet. My beloved cat Yorick, Hamlet's best friend and littermate, died on April 21, 2006 at the age of 12. He is greatly missed. In addition to being a cat-mom, I am also a doting aunt to my nieces and nephews Micayla, Zachary, Christian, Ally, and Aydan.
Since 2001 I have owned and operated "The Writer's Midwife." I critique and edit fiction and non-fiction manuscripts, mentor and coach emerging authors, ghostwrite books (three novels, four memoirs, four general non-fiction books, one screenplay and counting!) draft query letters, research agents, prepare synopses, develop book proposals and just generally help other people get published.
Projects I'm working on now include the novel BRUTUS ON THE BASEPATHS about a Shakespeare-loving baseball player who makes a stunning sacrifice in the final summer of his major league career, and the non-fiction literary travelogue IN PURSUIT OF GLOOM: A TONGUE-IN-CHEEK GUIDE TO SCANDINAVIA'S MOST DEPRESSING TOURIST DESTINATIONS. My hobbies include reading the tabloids and planning exotic trips for other people. The great passions of my life are Indian food, black-and-white movies, and Van Morrison's voice.
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