F.A.Q

1. Why did you write this book?
I wrote it for myself. Did Richard really love me? Jess Stearn, Soulmates' author helped me clear up that doubt. When I shared our story with both friends and strangers I found out how much their knowing about Richard and me and our communication after his death helped them deal with their own losses.
The conference I gave in Findhorn, Scotland at the 1980 OneEarth Conference encouraged me to share our relationship problems.

2. When did you first realize that you were a writer and that you would make writing a career?
When I won first prize for Creative Non-Fiction at the Santa Barbara Writers’ Conference.
Also Larry Heath, a Hollywood Screenwriter with forty years of success asked me after reading “Heaven Knows Anything Goes” to co-author a screenplay with him.

3. When starting a new story, do you keep a rigid outline or do you have a basic idea and let things happen.
I do both. I have an outline but it is flexible. Each chapter or scene ends with something exciting or mysterious or thought–provoking to motivate the reader to turn the next page.

4. How do you come up with a story–line? Do ideas first dance in your head or do you see something you loosely base your stories on?
Invariably I rely on my life experience. I will continue “Heaven Knows”, with “God Knows” and “Who Knows, Anything Goes”. It will form a trilogy about other personal experiences.
Fiction is somewhat different. I allow myself to experience what the characters are going through. I become them as if I am an actor portraying them. To some extent I am still relying on the trauma of my own experience.

5. Do you use a critique group, and if so, what do you get from them?
I have met with The Venice Library Group, an Emeritus College class, and another at L. A. COllege.

6. Who and what are some of your favorite authors or stories?
Somerset Maugham. He preached, “Tell a story directly and as simply as possible. Do not be obtuse. Be clear.” I learned this lesson as a freshman in English 101. I got an A. I still have the paper I wrote about him.
I basically read the classics for character study and richness of vocabulary. I read a lot of non-fiction, history, and biography. I like what is real.

7. Where and when do you find time to write? Do you have a certain place and time or is it whenever?
I sit in an easy chair in my living room with a full view of the patio with the doors and windows open if it is warm enough.
I do not disconnect the phone as I often have business that I need to take care of. It’s easier to take the calls than chase them down later. If for any reason I feel the continuity would be broken, then Voice Mail picks up.

8. What are the two books about that you mentioned earlier “God Knows, and Who Knows, Anything Goes?
The first is about a mind control operation of the CIA briefly mentioned in Heaven Knows. "Who Knows" is another love story about a man whose fears of abandonment prevent him from ever experiencing unconditional love.
I’m also assembling two books on alternative medicine. The first tells what can go wrong with doctors and hospitals; the second, what you can do about it. “Staying Alive”, “Staying Alive in the USA: A Dictionary to Die For”.

9. Can you give any guidance or words of advice to aspiring authors?
I quote Ray Bradbury whom I met in Santa Barbara. “Write about what you are passionate about.” Then it will be real.