Me I was born in Philadelphia and attended Catholic school until my family moved to a nearby suburb and I went to public school. As the middle child of a salesman father and stay-at-home mom, I was painfully shy and rarely spoke.  Taller than most kids my age and underweight, I stood out even though I didn't want to.  I took years and years of dance lessons but never “shined” enough to get singled out in class.  I dreamed of doing having a solo but never made it out of the group numbers.  During high school, other interests I pursued were the violin, the guitar, choir, softball, and volleyball.  A good but not excellent student, most of my friends come from the “smart kids” set.  Though neither of my parents went to college, I was on that track. I fell in love with where words could take me early in life, so being an English major was a natural choice.  From about ninth grade on my favorite authors were Katherine Mansfield, Tennessee Williams, Gwendolyn Brooks, Dorothy Parker, Richard Wright, and Albert Camus. Though I was studying dance (sometimes taking three classes a day), always in the back of my mind, I knew I wanted to be a writer.  I started off writing poems (doesn’t every writer?) then I moved on to plays (some were produced, most were not).  Around this time when I was in my early twenties, a few literary magazines published the few short stories I had written, one of which evolved into my first novel Sweet Thang. I was happy/shocked when Sweet Thang was accepted by Random House. I started working on a second novel but soon abandoned my efforts; my father was very ill at this time.  My mother had passed away years earlier and I was now faced with another loss.  When I returned to writing, I gave my father a new life as my inspiration for Mr. Jerome Halbrook in Life Is Fine. The companion novel for Sweet Thang, Hollywood and Maine was written in response to some of the comments that people had made to me about Charmaine and her family.  I wanted her uncle to be redeemed.  The modeling thing came from my very short experience in that industry. My newest novel Tutored came from a play I wrote.  It’s pretty confrontational.  It really got my juices going.  That’s what I like most about writing – the role playing. Here are some of my other favorites: Favorites:   Current Author      Sherman Alexie (he’s fearless) Activist            Dick Gregory Comedian            Paul Mooney, Kathy Griffin, and Bruce Bruce Vacation            London Color               Blue, but I wear a lot of red Old Song            "Rainy Night in Georgia" and "Skylark" (tie) Current Song        "Crazy" Gnarls Barkley Old Movie           12 Angry Men Current Movie       Spiderman I and II, don’t ask me about III Old TV Show         Twilight Zone and Sanford and Son (tie) Current TV Show     The Office  Old Current TV Show Law and Order      (has this show really been on 20 years?) American Idol       Adam Lambert (he's got nerve) Quote               If you can't think of anything nice to say,                      come sit by me. --  Dorothy Parker.