I’ve been an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction, from a very young age. My mother introduced me to books when I was a child. She loved to read novels. We had a bookcase with works by Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Dickens and Emily Bronte, to name a few. In my early teens, I joined a few book clubs that offered the first 4 books for free. I was so excited when selecting those books.
Books saved me. Books were my lifeline. Books are intimate friends. The very idea that a human being was sharing their most inner thoughts, ideas, fantasies, passions, fears, conflicts, perceptions, and secrets–in their books–with me, made me feel connected them and to the world.
My mother dreamed of being a journalist, but never came close to realizing her dream. But now I am experiencing one of my dreams: my first novel, UNBOWED, published that she would have been proud of and having people be inspired or heated up by what they read.