Marilyn lives in the Maryland mountains near Camp David with CeeJay (AKA “Sumo Kitty”) and a large collection of Teddy Bears. Her favorite neighbors are are Amanda Sue, Tilly, Oreo, Nilly-Vanilly and Queen Latifah.  They’re cows, but who’s counting?  

If you want to know about tomato horn worms and snakes, don’t ask her.  She just shudders and makes weird faces.  She can tell you how a grandson can melt your heart or how a daughter graduating from college after ten long years of night school can make tears of pride well in your eyes.  And over the last fifty odd years, she has learned about the endurance of friendship and the power of love.   And that’s what it’s all about – right?

I was born in the dead of winter in Minnesota. So you can see my dream of having a summer-in-the sun, outdoor pool party for my birthday was dashed from day one. After two years, my family relocated to Kansas City – not the well-know Missouri side – the lesser known Kansas side. So I was raised a midwestern Jayhawker (not to be confused with a jay walker). Surprisingly, in twenty years living in Kansas, I never saw a tornado.

I lived on a dead-end road surrounded by woods and spent most of my childhood days successfully avoiding snakes and unsuccessfuly avoiding poison ivy. I can’t say I was an avid reader. Once I found a book I liked, I just kept re-reading it. The Witch of Blackbird Pond, The Black Stallion, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

In high school, I was forced to write – and I hated it! Every fall, our topic was “What I Did on Summer Vacation”. Unfortunately, I didn’t do much more than wander through the woods avoiding snakes and contracting poison ivy. It never occurred to me I could make something up. I could have been a galaxy-fighter on the planet X-Rox, or driven cattle down the Chisolm trail. But those were lies and everyone knows what happens to little girls who lie, right?

Marriage brought me to the east coast. Two children kept me busy. After watching Emergency on television, I decided if Johnny Gage could be a paramedic, so could I. So I joined the local Rescue Squad in Laurel, Maryland, became an Emergency Medical Technician, rode ambulance for 14 years and worked as an emergency dispatcher for 9 years.

Divorce forced me to get a better job – two, as a matter of fact. I became the only woman on a jobsite with 300 construction guys and a receptionist at a local veterinarian clinic. Two years of hearing “The Lifecyle of the Flea” was enough and I relinquished my position with the dogs. But I stayed with the construction company and eventually moved into the home office where I still cavort with construction guys.

One day, while staring at my blank computer screen, I decided to write a story. I did. And then I wrote another and another. Thank God no one will ever read those first sad attempts. Luckily, I found Romance Writers of America and the local chapter, Washington Romance Writers and learned how to write a story.

The rest is history – 10 years of it. Hopefully I have made my friends and family proud. And maybe my high school english teacher, who made me write about what I did on summer vacation, will see that she done good and I are a writer now.