As of May 1, 2014, I have been marketing my books for one year. I am still very new to this whole "indie" book publishing world, but I love twitter. I have met an incredible number of great folks on the social site. I have made what I think will be some life-long friends. The authors there are helpful and the readers very engaging.

Farloft, my Dragon, has made friends on twitter as well. He tweets the last Friday of every month. You should take "Talking to a Dragon" off you bucket list and drop in to chat with Farloft. He loves making new friends.

I grew up in every state this side of the Mississippi. In the 62 years I have been alive, I have moved 34 times. When you move that often you learn to make friends quickly and you learn to write because you need to keep in touch with those friends you left behind. I also come from a very large family. I have two natural born brothers, but 23 foster and adopted brothers. Many of their personalities, exchanges and adventures have made food for my writing.

My mother used to say she spent more on stamps then anything else for me when I was young. I guess that goes back to keeping in touch with those friends you leave behind when you move on to the next city or state.

I wrote my first novel at 13 yrs old during recess on the school bleachers with a friend. It was called "The Fourth Beatle" and was based on the idea that there was a missing member of the Beatles group. Of course, he was young and handsome.

I also was encouraged by my mother to keep a journal. Not necessarily a diary, but more of a journal of thoughts, poetry, goals and wishes for the future. Mother always kept one herself and I have her whole collection of 70 some odd years worth. One day I will read them.

I wrote my first real novel in 1990 when I broke my foot and the doctor said there was a direct relationship to how fast it would heal based on how much I stayed off of it. I bought a word processor and started writing "The Helavite War." (This became my first published work.) Three months later my foot was healed and the book was finished. That led to five more in that series over the next five years.

I wrote my first Farloft Chronicle in 1996 for my 9 year old nephew. He needed advice and it seemed an aging dragon would be a great teacher. Farloft is still teaching today. He is helping the Effortless English folks who are learning to speak English through reading his books and listening to his audio books.

"We 3," my book about the challenges and rewards of being my parent's caregiver, was originally a human interest column in the local newspaper. It ran for 4 years from 2000-2004.

"Shifting in the Realms" is my latest work, in yet another genre, paranormal. I really enjoyed putting myself in a wolf's place and seeing everything from his perspective.

I don't know where the future will take me or what genre I might explore next. Writing is my passion and my characters are my friends. I like to revisit them often to see what they are up to.

My latest book in progress is the 6th volume of The Farloft Chronicles. I told you that Farloft loves to tweet and during one of his Follow Farloft (#FF) days a tweeter asked him how he met me. He told them it was a very long story and one day he would tell them.

Well, the next day he nailed my foot to the floor and started dictating our story. We have known each other a very long time and at this point this will be the longest volume in The Farloft Chronicles. Hopefully, it will answer that tweeter's question and many more that have not been answered in the previous five volumes.

I have belonged to the same writing group for over ten years. We meet every two weeks and I have presented many a story and book to them for review and comment. In February of 2013 I found myself experiencing something I had never had happen before, I had writer's block. I was working on my 7th Scifi in the Star Traveler Series. I got to a point and found myself returning to the 1st volume instead of continuing with the 7th. Because volumes 1-6 were never published I could always revisit them and tweak them just a little more. I just couldn't seem to move forward. My remedy for the problem was to give each of the other six a final read, make up some covers and print out a "finished" copy for my records to put them to bed once and for all.

My writing group said, "If you are going to go to that trouble, why don't you publish them as eBooks online?" I told them I was not techie, I didn't know how to do it, and it probably cost too much etc. etc. etc.

They wouldn't let me out of it. One of them offered to format them. They all offered to beta read anything they hadn't read before.

From May-December 2013 I published all twelve of my previously written books. It jump started my writing again. I finished the first draft of the 7th volume. I wrote my first paranormal and I am working on my next fantasy.

Thank goodness for wonderful friends and companions. Where would we be without their inspiration and guidance?

I am new to Smashwords so I can't really say what is in store for me here. I do know that as of this writing I posted my first fantasy in The Farloft Chronicles yesterday at 2:00 pm. As of 5:00 today I have already sold two copies. I am hoping this is an omen. A very good omen.

I love the process of putting words on paper to create a character that lives, not just for me, but for my readers. Nothing thrills me more than someone telling me they were moved to tears or laughter while reading one of my books. It means they are involved, invested, in that character and what happens to him/her. I hope I will grow old making people laugh and cry. It would be a dream come true.

I believe fans are the mirrors to our writing souls. When I hear them say they loved this or that about my work I am elated. I do a happy dance each time I garner a 4-5 star review. (It is quite a sight to see.) I live for the feedback they tweet me, Facebook me or comment on my blog. As a writer I long to share my work and when a fan responds to that work it is the cherry on the top of the ice cream sundae.

I have three projects I am currently working on. The Farloft Chronicles, Volume 6 "Dragon Memories, Dreams & Reflections." is being written. The first draft of the 7th volume of the Star Traveler Series "The Beast Within," is being edited. And I am always writing a "free to read" story on my blog - currently a story of Farloft when he was young called "Timenall & the Captive Gryphon."

I also have several readers that are hounding me for another volume about Cody's adventure in The Realms. I will return to his story later this year.

I love reading and consume at least a book a week, sometimes up to three. I read all genres and have favorites in each, so it is difficult to pick even a handful of favorites, because there are so many. However, for you, I will give it a try.
By genre:
Sherrilyn Kenyon - paranormal
Cherie Priest - steampunk
James Herriot and Beryl Markham - non-fiction
Janet Evanovich - thrillers
L. Ron Hubbard or any old school - Scifi
Katherine Logan - Romance with a bit of time travel (Don't read general romance any longer. Grew out of it.)
Neil Gaiman - general weirdness with humor thrown in
Maurice Sendak - children's (though I could go on and on in the children's category) and Anne McCaffrey - Fantasy

Writing! I do my best writing in the early morning. Lean close, I will tell you a secret...I dream a majority of my work. Yes folks, I have spacemen, shape shifters and dragons cavorting through my dreams. Often if I find myself in a pinch as to where to go with a story, I can take a nap and the problem will be solved when I awake. The mind is a wonderful thing.

I have an 8-5 job running the printshop at our local community college. I also am my father's caregiver. So I have a pretty full plate, but I find time to garden, read, keep up friendships, throw the occasional tea party, and travel. Life is never dull.

Until I joined Twitter, on the advice of my students at school, I had never read an eBook. When I joined Twitter in May of 2013, I thought a great way to make friends and get to know everyone would be to read other Twitter author's works. I read over 100 books the first year and helped by honestly reviewing them all. It was great to find so many talented folks in the eBook world.

I started by reading on my android phone, them laptop, then finally I bought an iPad. I love having a collection of books always available on my tablet. Anytime I meet a new author I check out their work and often download their book. eBooks are so affordable.