How it all Began

When someone asks me why I write, the short answer is "Because I can't paint, sing, dance, or play an instrument."

The long answer is "Because different elements collided at the right moment in time."

Element 1: Two years ago, I was staring a significant birthday in the face, foreseeing the very real risk of turning into one of those women who spend their time nagging their grown children about how seldom they call if I didn' t develop some un-child-related interests of my own, pronto.

Element 2: I always got the best feedback about those parts of school, and later, work, that involved writing. I am a word geek, tend to remember how to spell things, and collect funny quotes. Some readers might think this would naturally have inspired me to want to write on my own. They would be wrong. Didn't occur to me for a long time.

Element 3: I've been a voracious reader since I forced my mom to teach me before Grade 1 because she wouldn't read to me as often as I liked. Despite (or, because of) the volume of reading material I go through I'm quite hard to please. It's rare that I'll be completely convinced by a book, and even more rare that I'll feel strongly enough torecommend one to others.

Element 4: After more than a decade of listening to my repeated rant, "This book is terrible. I could do better", my husband astonished me by calling my bluff.

Element 5: We tend to watch a lot of HGTV (for the uninitiated - Home & Garden Television), HGTV being a fairly safe channel when underage eyes and ears are present (unless the British chefs are on the loose, but that's a whole other story). One night, I dreamt I was on one of those D.I.Y. home improvement shows, and the designer, inexplicably, was Vin Diesel (again, for the uninitiated - all you need to know about this actor is contained in his last name) .
I don't even like Vin Diesel (as an actor - I'm sure that as a person, Mr. Diesel is lovely). Yet somehow, from that nocturnal image, the seed for Cupid and a Toolbelt was born. And the rest, as they say, is history - or will be, once the manuscript is finally done!