I've been writing ever since I can remember. I started writing for publication after my youngest started kindergarten. I took a course in writing for children, wrote a few short stories for the course, then started submitting them. After many rejections, I managed to have three of my stories published in small magazines that paid in copies.
I decided I wanted to try writing a novel, since short stories were hard to sell and I liked the idea of working on one long project rather than having to constantly come up with a new idea each time I started a new story. The first novel I wrote was a middle grade ghost story called Laura. I was never able to get that one published and consider it my practice novel.
The second novel I wrote was Under the Guns,a young adult novel centering around the life of a young woman, her family and friends through the four years of the Civil War. Under the Guns has recently gone out of print.
My American Civil War romance stories are not your typical Gone With the Wind variety. Mine encompass everything from time travel, ghosts and vampires, to women soldiers. But, diverse as my stories are, love always finds a way to win out in the end.
My fascination with the Civil War period began when my husband decided to become a reenactor and pulled the whole family into the hobby. We became members of the 28th Pennsylvania Regiment, based in Philadelphia.
Below is one of my favorite Civil War photos of me and my husband at a battle reenactment at Neshaminy State Park in Pennsylvania.