I moved to the west coast in 1975 and worked in the entertainment biz, reading 'go' scripts for two Academy Award winning cinematographers. Consequently, my writing career began with screenplays; I hung out with screenwriters, going to the Writer's Guild for talks and films. Robert Town, writer of Chinatown, was especially influential. He said that if you wanted to address a controversial subject, place it within history to soften the controversy, so as to get the message across.  My series of books, Destiny's Consent, is historical fiction about a woman of Rom against the backdrop of the 20th century. The inspiration for Destiny's Consent  came to me in a dream - which included 'gypsies', people I knew nothing about. And as I began my research. I found there was very little known about the Roma.  What was purportedly true was derogatory, e.g. they are thieves of children; they are pickpockets; they are drunks; they are chauvinistic. Much of it is from the pov of outsiders.  After finding other books and other stories, I am thrilled to be writing about the Roma.  As a people, they were and continue to be extremely persecuted; in the Holocaust, the Rom were exterminated along with the Jews in the camps.  They are misunderstood because they are unknown, and as hunter/gatherers in a post industrial age, feared and hated.  I would hope that my books could help to change that.   The setting of Venice, California and its idiosyncratic nature figures prominently in the series.  This is due to Abbot Kinney, the founder-Doge, who spent his own money creating a Renaissance City to nurture the very best in humankind.  The feedback from those who have read the books has, and continues to be so gratifying. I have bona fide fans out there who are pushing me to complete my books so they can read more.  Encouraged by their enthusiasm, I have just completed a good first draft of the third book, Angel's Flight.   To support myself as a writer, I have driven a cab in Los Angeles; waitressed (of course); been a property manager; worked as a script supervisor in films/commercials and been a landscape designer/installer.  I am like a circus roustabout, filling in wherever needed to serve my Muse.  Now I live in Costa Rica, happily writing..    

"It's in the Stars", a screenplay, came in 12th in a huge national contest, winning a review with a producer.
The producer/director of "Spy Hard" optioned another screenplay, "Female Bonding".