I'm bringing back my bio page, minus about 4000 pictures and way too much information.

Unfortunately, I didn't save the old version, so I had to start from scratch. I've written, as always, whatever popped into my head. Pictures follow, and the page concludes with some of my favorite quotes.

The Return of the Bio Page!

About me:  I wish I had saved this from before! I have some vague blurb in the back of my books. I could check that, but it's not very accurate. So... Let's see... My ancestry is half Scottish and half German. My mother was an artist and my father a farmer, both from New York. They each moved to Maine to find peace, there met each other, married, & had myself and my sister, Lila. We grew up on a farm in Central Maine, with sheep & horses, & cows, & ... farm things.  Though I've lived in other places - Australia, Miami, Massachusetts, Boulder, my home is in Maine now, on the coast. I have 3 children, pets, and I write...

I don't logically believe in astrology, but the truth is, what mine reveals is true. (and logic never did hold much sway over me.) I'm a Leo with Leo rising, and my chart is almost all fire, with a little earth, a tiny drop of water, & absolutely no air. This reflects the accurate fact that I am 100% Right Brained, act on raw emotion & passion, with very little thought. Hence, I can write a full length novel in 6 days (and no, I am not exaggerating) because I don't think about it all. I just type it as I feel it.  And hence, I do not spend money wisely, forget appointments almost daily, & trust people implicitly until they blatantly prove otherwise (come rushing at me with a scimitar, that kind of thing - or until I finally see nefarious motives, usually involving money.) There's a positive & negative aspect to all things, & this is mine.  According to what I consider the best personality test & book of all time, What Color is Your Aura by Barbara Bowers, I am a Lavender with a Magenta overlay.  If the Leo/Leo bit is true, this one is magnificent. I get along best with Indigos, Yellows, Loving Tans, & Violets, as well as my fellow Lavenders. I'm an INFP according to the almost-as-accurate Myers-Briggs/Keirsey Temperament Sorter. All true.

Besides writing, and no matter what I'm doing, stories are always brewing & swirling in my head, I like to kayak, but I don't do it enough. Same with riding. I love horses, I love the smell, the beauty, the freedom inherent to their souls. I'm not good at controlling things, however, but I did get to the Prelim level in 3-Day eventing as a child, & 3rd Level Dressage - all of which shows I had a German father who liked to keep me focused. Once, I had a horse who was the grandson of Man O' War, the famous racehorse. We got his mother for free, because she had a bad leg, and he was her only foal. 

I love to travel, especially with my kids. Those trips have given me among my happiest memories. I have been a very fortunate mother - my children are wonderful, & we get along, all of us, almost to perfection.  When Sofia went away to college in NYC last fall, I truly thought I would die. I've never felt such pain in my life. But she called every day (If you've seen The Bird Cage or My Big Fat Greek Wedding, I am perhaps quite closely akin to Albert & the bride's father... mother form) - and I got used to life's evolution.  A little.  I am very proud of her, and it's the weirdest feeling to feel just devastated and yet happy for someone, because you know they're on their path. Motherhood. I had both Sofia & Garrett with midwives, and Garrett was born at home - I loved childbirth beyond description. I would have babies until I'm 90 if I could.

As for what I enjoy, I don't watch much television any more, but I love The Daily Show & The Colbert Report. I admire both those men greatly (Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert) because their perspective on the world resonates with me, & if nothing else, finding the comedy in dark places is beyond price. That's something I respect. I loved Mystery Science Theater 3K, I loved Fawlty Towers & Monty Python, & I finally grew to like SpongeBob. In fact, it was a SpongeBob episode that inspired me, 5 years ago, to become a semi-vegetarian. (whatever you call those who eat no meat except seafood - pesca-tarian? There's an 'official' name for it, anyway.)  When Squidward took a bite of that Crabby Patty - I recognized how I'd felt all my life, & that was that.  That was my SpongeBob Epiphany.  (I also liked the X-Files.)

I love video & computer games, & have played them for many years. They have to be medieval, or else contain Toad, and I can play them for hours on end. My first great game was one of the Ultima series, & has moved on through Baldur's Gate to online gaming with World of Warcraft, inspired by my son. (I have 4 70s now, and 3 others well on their way...)  When I'm not writing, I play that & it's delightful.  The element of real players in the fantasy landscape gives it endless appeal. (and the fact I got to be a female elf, an incredibly good looking male elf, AND a gnome seals the pact - I also have this beefy human male paladin who my kids make fun of - he's 70, too. I wanted him to look Indian - instead, he looks a bit like a holy thug.) I name most of my characters after those in my books - hence, I have an Aren & an Aiyana, & a Cheveyo, (the beefy thug.)  We're all in a Guild run by my son on one server, and in another run by a fine young man who works with my children on another. (Alliance on one, Horde on the other, in case you happen to know what that means.) My ex-husband plays, too, and my sister & her daughter, as well as many friends. It is a much more interesting & enjoyable way to communicate than chat rooms, and you can hack, slash & dress up pretty characters while you're at it.

World of Warcraft Screenshots

The greatest artistic influence on my life was first, my mother, & then J.R.R. Tolkien. I read the Lord of the Rings 22 times in one winter, & ever after, it has been close to my heart. I adored the movie (except the change in Faramir's character & Gandalf hitting Denethor, though admittedly, those were all brilliantly acted & still moving, despite the changes in the book. And though Arwen would never have considered leaving, Liv Tyler was so beautiful & so poignant in that scene, I still get teary thinking of it. I also wished for more Eowyn/Eomer - Eomer has always been my vision of a hero.)  I thought Peter Jackson found the spirit of the book to a degree beyond what I dared hope, and I will admire him always.

I do not want to write about tragedy. I want to write about heroism and hope. I do not want to become cynical. So I write romance novels, because it blends fantasy & love. As I progress in my work, I find I move deeper into fantasy and science fiction, and there I hope to remain forever. I would like, ultimately, to write straight fantasy, with romantic elements, and I hope that is in my future.

Everyone has a time when they have to choose between positive & negative paths, between dark & light energy.  A wise & beautiful person once led me to this site, & I follow his advice now:  Huna.org

When all paths seem to lead to nowhere, when I can't find the point, there has always been one thing that I would go to, & it is the same place I always went when I could not find the magic or the hope in life:    "I wish the Ring had never come to me..."

Carol & I spent a whole day taking neat, weird, &/or distorted pictures of ourselves, & Garrett

I had really good stories surrounding them, which I've pretty much forgotten, but here are a few:

(here, I'm absolutely sure My Boy & I aren't SURE about the new neighbors...  if they're 'our' kind of people...)

People may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.  Rabbi Jory Lang

Write something to suit yourself and many people will like it; write something to suit everybody and scarcely anyone will care for it.  Jesse Stuart

Perjury's not a real crime; it's just lying about a real crime. Like manslaughter. It's not murder; it's beating someone brutally in a drunken bar fight, and they just happen to die. You can't blame someone for that.  Stephen Colbert

The war... was an unnecessary condition of affairs, and might have been avoided if forebearance and wisdom had been practiced on both sides.  Robert E. Lee

What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world.  Robert E. Lee

The power of noble deeds is to be preserved and passed on to the future.  Joshua Chamberlain

Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.  Frederick Douglass

Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war.  Donald Rumsfeld  (yeah, pretty much...)

Support for the Iraq war is at an all-time low, and some Republicans blame the media and its '24/7 news coverage of car bombs,' which 'tends to leave a certain impression.' You know, that's so true. You never hear about the cars that DON'T blow up.   Jon Stewart

Humanity should question itself, once more, about the absurd and always unfair phenomenon of war, on whose stage of death and pain only remain standing the negotiating table that could and should have prevented it.  Pope John Paul II

Violence and arms can never resolve the problems of men.  Pope John Paul II

War is a defeat for humanity. Pope John Paul II

I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.  George H. W. Bush

I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them.  George H. W. Bush

See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.  George W. Bush

I don't know why you're talking about Sweden. They're the neutral one. They don't have an army.  George W. Bush

When Iraq is liberated, you will be treated, tried and persecuted as a war criminal.  George W. Bush

If you're trying to please everyone, then you're not going to make anything that is honestly yours, I don't think, in the long run.  Viggo Mortensen

Thou shall not kill. Thou shall not commit adultery. Don't eat pork... I'm sorry, what was that last one?? Don't eat pork. God has spoken. Is that the word of God or is that pigs trying to outsmart everybody?  Jon Stewart

I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land.  Jon Stewart

My heroes are the ones who survived doing it wrong, who made mistakes, but recovered from them.  Bono

So much time is wasted on trying to be better than others.  Elijah Wood

That's always an interesting concept when you try to make your dream into a reality and you come up against the facts of exactly what it is you're attempting to do.  Karl Urban

If you have stage fright, it never goes away. But then I wonder: is the key to that magical performance because of the fear?  Stevie Nicks

Remember-you can't beam through a force field. So, don't try it.  William Shatner

The thing you notice here after America is how refreshingly ordinary people look because they haven't had their chin wrapped around the back of their ears.  Ian Mckellen

It's all kinds of these profound things crashing on you when your child arrives into the world. It's like you've met your reason to live.  Johnny Depp

An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie, for an excuse is a lie guarded.   Pope John Paul II

Cooking is actually quite aggressive and controlling and sometimes, yes, there is an element of force-feeding going on.  Nigella Lawson

Being a princess isn't all it's cracked up to be.  Princess Diana