I have always been a writer.
When I was nine-years old I wrote my first book. It was called “The Cats of Blackheath.” It was about a gang of talking cats who lived in a park in London. Every night they’d roam the streets and back alleys saving lives and performing supernatural feats (I know, whoever heard of a cat dragging someone out of a burning building? But, as a little girl, I felt cats had the bum-rap in the super-hero department). The book was only twenty-pages long, never published. But, my mother loved it. She carefully packed my “little book” away in the bottom drawer of her dresser, underneath all the other stories I wrote as a child. Maybe, one day, I should pull them all out and read them again.
Writing a bio about myself is harder than writing a 344-page book—but, here it is in a nutshell:
I was born in Kentucky. My family and I lived there until I was five, and then we moved to Ohio, Missouri, and at the age of eleven—New York City. I went to High School of Art & Design in Manhattan. Studied photography. At nineteen, I ran away to England. It was the best time of my life. Took photographs, traveled the countryside, and hung out with rock bands. In my early twenties I returned to New York City. I became a free-lance photographer. Then I went to college: Queens College in Flushing, Queens. Studied physics, Greek, screen writing, film making, English, linguistics & communications. As you can see I couldn’t settle on a major. In 1982, took the police exam and joined the NYPD. Worked patrol in North and South Queens. But, I never lost my love for photography. Took night classes at NYU’s Film School for cinematography, film directing and production. Then 9/11 happened. For me it was the writing on the wall and I felt that New York City—and, the world—would never be the same again. In 2002, after twenty-years service in the NYPD, I retired. In 2003 I began to write “The First Responders.” After several set-backs with literary agents, publishers, and mood-swinging, grouchy editors, I learned the hard way the ins-and-outs of writing and publishing a book.
Today, I’m writing my second and third book. One is a fiction-thriller and the other is another non-fiction book (but, I’ll keep mum on the topic, at the moment). I still take photographs. Planning a trip to Antarctica. Will learn to be a better swimmer. Buy a bike. Visit the South of France. And, one day collect my old childhood stories into a little book.