I started reading before first grade and immediately fell in love with fiction. With that love of reading, I seemed destined to be English major and was fascinated by all the stories through the ages. Old English Beowulf and Middle English Canterbury Tales and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; American tales by Hawthorne and Poe, and the novels of William Faulkner all sparked my imagination. I read my favorite Faulkner novel, As I Lay Dying, when I was in college. Its shifting points of view allowed a look into the emotional journeys of each member of Addie Bundren's family as they traveled by wagon to bury her.
Whether I am reading or writing fiction, I want to look into the hearts and minds of the characters, understand why they believe what they do, see how those beliefs shape their worlds, and, finally, see if they will overcome false beliefs or be destroyed by them.
I write to find answers to my questions. I ask why a woman would stay with an abusive man. I ask why a man cannot forget a childhood sweetheart and becomes obsessed with finding her again. I ask what happens to a young girl who learns her father kidnapped her when she was a baby and her whole life has been a lie. I ask why her father would do such a thing.
If, as I do, you are fascinated by how beliefs shape lives, then sample some of my stories, including my short story collection, The Nancy Nolan Show, and my psychological suspense novel, The Night before Christmas.