I was born. I came out backwards with the cord wrapped around my neck, and thanks to a country doctor, I lived. It's been uphill from there. I grew up on Long Island, where nothing happened and nothing changed. When mini skirts were no longer in fashion, they were seen all over my home town. We listened to AM radio, had no cable, and no color TV in my house. But the highlight of my childhood was being a child model. My father was discovered in Lindy's Restaurant in Brooklyn by an NYC modeling agent who got him jobs as the Dial Soap man, the Viceroy Cigarette man, the Pepperidge Farm cookie man, and the Remington Shotgun Shell man. He dragged us all into modeling and my family did a spread on fallout shelters after the Cuban Crisis for Life Magazine and my dad was on the cover of that issue in a fallout suit. I was also in People magazine and the Smithsonian's magazine. It was then that I realized that I wasn't staying in a small town and that I'd somehow, some way, get to New York City when I was old enough. We had an old, renovated 34 foot cabin cruiser and we went to Cape Cod and neat little places like Cuddyhunk Island, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, Point Judith, and Block Island. We had our own lobster pots, fished in Peconic Bay, and had some great times! One time, I got to study with some scientists from the Museum of Natural History. They needed to get on Gull Island, a tiny island off the end of Long Island, and hired my dad to get them there. The old docks were gone, there were pilings beneath the water and rocks, as well, and making a landing wasn't easy. But once we landed, it was great! There was an old military fort on the island, complete with underground bunkers and a tower. We were there to study and count gulls, so I followed a scientist around all day who told me everything he knew about the gulls and why they were studying them. During my teen years, I worked as a scallop and an oyster shucker, a waitress, and a chambermaid. I also spent time in the A&P produce department, weighing and putting up fruits and veggies. I ran my father's fish store on weekends and cleaned houses for rich people. At eighteen I took refuge at SUNY Oswego and later transferred to SUNY at Stony Brook. Life began after college. I had some interesting jobs --a stint as a copy writer trainee at the Syracuse Post-Standard, a seasonal job in the NY Times advertising department, and a very boring time at Viking/Penguin in the marketing department. I got an ulcer working at an advertising agency but while working there, Doubleday published my first book, SAVE ME!. Thus ended my days in NYC. That year I was listed in Who's Who in America. I fled to the West Coast and began a new life in Seattle. I've been here a long time now. I worked on THE BAD GIRLS CLUB for over seven years, did multiple rewrites and revisions, and sold it to Blooming Tree Press in 2005. I am still working on my other novel, CRACKING NORMAL. I live in the Seattle area work in marketing, publicity, and promotion. Occasionally, I edit a book.