Multi-genre Author Barbara Quinn Has a New Book, Hard Head

I’m the author of four novels. All are available at Amazon, B&N and everywhere books are sold. I’m Founder of the Rose & Thorn Journal  http://www.roseandthornjournal.com a zine that has  been around since 1998. The zine is a wonderful place, staffed by writers who volunteer their time to put out a great publication.  I was Publisher and Managing Editor until 2009 when I left to work as an SEO content producer for a consultant to Lexis Nexis, a large legal publisher.

I love to travel and have visited 47 states, plus many countries on four continents.  I've ridden a camel in the Canary Islands, attended the opera in Vienna and spent time in an absinthe bar in Budapest. For ten years I practiced law. Before that, my jobs included process server, lingerie sales clerk, waitress, and postal worker. I also did some reporting for local papers.  

I split my time between Bradley Beach, NJ where I love the boardwalk, sand, and Asbury Park music scene, and Rockland County, NY.  I have a terrific husband, a wonderful son, and an adorable grandson. You can reach me at BAQuinn@aol.com  I’d love to keep in touch via twitter.com/BarbaraQuinn. 

Tell us about the genre of your work.   

I’m a multi-genre author and love mixing it up. Hard Head is a suspense novel with romantic and paranormal elements. Speed of Dark is a Paranormal Romance. 36C is women’s fiction/chick lit. Slings and Arrows is an Urban Fantasy with dark humor.

Why did you choose this genre?

I tend to write a lot of fantasy and paranormal stories usually with some romance in there. Those genres indulge my love of travel. With fantasy and paranormal, I can go anywhere. When you add a little romance, ahhhh, how can you not feel alive and good? Life is filled with many different genres and so is my writing.   

How is writing in the genre you write, different than other genres?

To me fantasy and paranormal tales are much larger than life, but they tackle real life issues. You have leeway to let go of laws of physics, but you are still bound by the laws of human emotions.

What are some of your books, stories that have been published?

I have four novels published. Two are with Eternal Press: The Speed of Dark, a fantasy set in 1964 is about a fellow who falls for a mysterious girl while riding behind a DDT truck. It came out in October, 2011and Hard Head, the story of a mother and daughter who travel to Italy and are caught up in an ancient vendetta, came out in February, 2012. 36C, the tale of a lingerie shop girl, and Slings and Arrows, about a woman who takes up with a shady spiritualist were published by DiskUspublishing and are available everywhere. 

I also have a number of stories in audio version at Sniplits.com. My story Crab Lines won Best of the Net in 2006 and I’ve had a number of other short story awards.

Can you tell us more about your book?

Hard Head

My novel Hard Head was re-released in February, 2012. In Hard Head, Rosanna Sweeney defies her father’s deathbed order that she never go to Italy. She and her troubled teenage daughter journey across Italy to the Calabrian town of her father’s birth. They find romance, learn about one another, and uncover a past that links them to secret societies and an ancient vendetta.

ISBN-13: 978-1615726073  

ASIN: B0075XR288  

Some blurbs

Barbara Quinn's Hardhead is eyepopping, filled with memorable characters who take you on a fascinating journey. Think Get Shorty, Pulp Fiction and Fargo, with a zany female slant and much, much more. ... A remarkable book!

                         --Noel Hynd

Barbara Quinn has done an excellent job of weaving her characters through a suspenseful plot and into a believable ending. Beyond the suspense, this novel of self-discovery is bound to resonate with anyone who has ever felt out of place.

                         --The Daily Republic

A great read. Ms. Quinn catapults you from one horrifying moment to the next, keeping you wondering how they will survive these secret, and powerful societies.

                           --Shawn Phillips

Speed of Dark

There are some people you never forget. In the summer of 1964, while riding his bike in a DDT cloud, Luke D’Angelo falls for one of them–a mysterious girl named Celeste. Like Luke, Celeste is an outsider struggling to find her identity, but unlike Luke, Celeste has special powers that have the potential to destroy everything Luke and his friends believe in. Luke and his mentally challenged sister become fast friends with this curious girl. Set in upstate New York, in a town that is home to a shrimp cocktail plant that belches a foul-smelling tomato and fish fog, this coming-of-age tale about a girl with a dream and the teens who want to help her fulfill it, is a balance between the comic and the profound. The story resonates with the message that inside each of us is a light that burns so bright no dark can extinguish it. But at what cost?

ISBN: 9781615725069

ASIN: B005UI7B5E

Some blurbs: 

I'm always on the lookout for a good new author and Barbara Quinn fits that description to a "T." I loved The Speed of Dark, from the wonderfully realized setting to the characters and their complicated, but timeless, relationships with each other. Quinn has also done a terrific job in bringing to life what it was like growing up in the early part of the sixties. I was a teenager at that time and a lot of what she writes about is eerily familiar-either from my own life, or the people I knew at the time.

 

-Charles de Lint, author of Someplace to be Flying, Forests of the Heart, Seven Wild Sisters, The Onion Girl


By turns lyrical and grittily realistic, The Speed of Dark brings its own vision to the Stephen King territory of small town life in the sixties. In a novel rich with period detail, Barbara Quinn effectively captures the sense of the numinous that pervades everyday life.

-Eileen Kernaghan, author of The Snow Queen, Songs from the Drowned Lands, and The Sarsen Witch

Barbara Quinn's novel The Speed of Dark is a fascinating and imaginative story, blending the real with the fantastic, giving us characters we can know and root for. Her writing is wise and magical, filled with wit, passion and honesty. Barbara reminds me of my late friend Laurie Colwin. This is an engrossing and rewarding novel. Readers will have fun and be profoundly moved.  

-Noel Hynd, author of Ghosts and Cemetery of Angels

Just read "Speed of Dark" by @BarbaraQuinn The "icy storm in mouth" scene -never read anything like that before!

 -Kat Magendie author of Tender Graces, Secret Graces, and Sweetie 

Slings and Arrows

When her husband leaves her for her best friend, Ellen D'Este loses her ability to enjoy her work as a massage therapist and her life begins to unravel. A friend convinces her to attend a session with a female spiritualist. Ever the skeptic, Ellen resists the pull of the shady Miss Wendy, but falls for the handsome Mark Vernon, a disciple of the spiritualist. As time passes, Ellen is plagued by visions and strange occurrences that test her beliefs and feelings. Can she find love, faith and the ability to massage again or will she be the unwitting pawn of a charlatan?

Paranormal romance/dark humor

ISBN -86473858

ASIN: B004I1KS18

 36C

Tressa Connell dreams of finding the right fellow, of putting her graphics art degree to work, and of traveling to Venice. The reality is that she's stuck in a dead-end job selling lingerie to rail-thin women who prowl the high-end Manhattan boutique where she works. Hounded by a helmet-haired boss, befriended by a troubled Latina makeup artist, and wooed by a Jewish cop, Tressa also has a giant grandfather clock strapped to her back, a bushel of eggs in her arms, and her mother cracking a Pampers whip over her head.

ISBN: 030-69102672

ASIN: B004I1KS4U  

Where do you get your ideas for writing? 

I never know where or when an idea will hit. Sometimes I wake up at night and try to jot down the vision I’m having on the piece of paper I keep next to the bed. The next morning it often takes me a while to figure out what those squiggles and letters mean.   

For Hard Head, glorious Italy was the source of inspiration. One of the major scenes in the book takes place in Siena at the wild horse race that is run twice a summer called Il Palio. I had to write about it even though I hadn’t yet been there. I did visit Siena eventually and was touched by its captivating light and beauty.   

What is your favorite thing about your book?

Hard Head has a special place in my heart. My late father was born in Calabria, where much of the story takes place, and he infuses much of the story. The term “hard head” is used to describe people from Calabria who are known for being stubborn. My father always told tales of the hard headed Calabrese, and he was fond of playing tunes on his head with his fist as a tribute to his Calabrian ancestors. He also talked of the Ndragheta, a Calabrian that appears in the book. I’m glad that I was able to get some of the spirit of my Dad onto the pages of Hard Head.

Why and when did you begin writing?  Is there any one person who had a big influence on you or encouraged you to write? 

I’ve been writing since I was a child. When I was a Girl Scout I wrote a play for the troop in which Little Red Riding Hood was evil and tormented the good wolf. My brother and I used to make up stories and then perform them for our parents.

What is your writing schedule?  What atmosphere do you need to write?

I’m a night owl so I usually write late in the afternoon and in the evening. I need quiet to write. No music, little background noise. And I need quiet in my soul. When I’m going through really stressful times, the words tend to slow down. I hate that. But I know that they’ll start flowing again once things settle down.

What projects are you working on now, or plan for the future?

I’m working on two things now. One is a women’s fiction about an older woman who is healed through music. The second one is a steampunk novel about a character that has to pay for the sins of his father. That one is just starting out.

What kind of advice or tips to you have for someone who wants to write and be published?

It’s essential that you read, and that you write. Writing is a long journey and the more you write the better your craft becomes. Seek out critics who will be honest. Be generous with others who are trying to write and don’t be afraid to write about the painful stuff. 

Are there any other comments, advice or tips that you would give to beginning writers?

Read, read, read, and read some more. Submit to small journals. Enter contests. Grow as a writer and submit to bigger journals. Schedule writing time every day possible.

What do you do when you are not writing?

I love the beach and I often take long walks on the boardwalk from Bradley Beach to Asbury Park where I pass by the Stone Pony and Madame Marie’s. I love cooking and wine too. My husband and I love to travel and try to visit unusual spots no matter where we go.

Include anything else you may wish to add.

There’s a whole new world out there in publishing. The e-revolution has been a boon to writers and no one should be afraid to take a chance with it. Don’t give up!

What “Made It” moments have you experienced in life?

Besides those wonderful events of finding the love of your life, and having a child, I can think of a couple of special times. The first edition of Hard Head made the rounds of the major publishers and so did the first edition of Speed of Dark. The feedback I got was encouraging and that made me feel that the struggle was worth it. Though there were no takers, I self-published them and sometime later had the wondrous experience of having them picked up by a publisher.

On another note, when I was practicing law years ago, I was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States. Being in that courtroom with those justices on the bench was thrilling. My son and husband were there with me and I’ll never forget that day.  

Note from Sylvia: You can visit my other blog at: http://love-faith-and-guts.blogspot.com/that features a preview to my new book, Traveling a Rocky Road with Love, Faith and Guts.

Retired Psychology Professor, Lesley Diehl, Dumptser Dying. No, that is Really the Title of Her New Book!

I retired from my life as a professor of psychology and reclaimed my country roots by moving to a small cottage in the Butternut River Valley in upstate New York.  In the winter, I migrate to old Florida—cowboys, scrub palmetto, and open fields of grazing cattle, a place where spurs still jingle in the post office.  Back north, I devote my afternoons to writing and, when the sun sets, relaxing on the bank of my trout stream, sipping tea or a local microbrew.

Tell us about the genre of your work. 

I write cozies, stories set in small communities featuring an amateur sleuth, someone who comes to the detecting process reluctantly.

Why did you choose this genre?

I think it chose me.  I am a country gal and I like village life.  I do not have the credentials to write a protagonist who is a police officer, so my sleuths must be amateurs.  Also, I want to accomplish something other than solving a murder in my work.  I try to use the murder, which is always a personal thing for me, the outcome of hate or love, as a vehicle for propelling my protagonist into reassessing her life.  She might have done this at some point anyway, but the murder compels her to do it now.

What are some of your books, stories that have been published?

My first book was A Deadly Draught, published by Mainly Murder Press and set in upstate New York in a microbrewery.  This past February Oak Tree Press released Dumpster Dying with a rural Florida setting.  My story “Murder with All the Trimmings” appeared in the Thanksgiving Anthology The Killer Wore Cranberry through Untreed Reads.  They will also be publishing a short story of mine for Mother’s Day, “Mother Needs a Lift” and I have sold another book length manuscript to them, Angel Sleuth.

http://www.amazon.com/Lesley-A-Diehl/e/B004I68U0O/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Tell us about your books, and especially tell us about your latest published book, Dumpster Dying?

Dumpster Dying.  ISBN 978-1-61009-006-3 at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and order from independent book sellers; trade paperback (my newest book)

Emily Rhodes came to rural Florida for the cowboys, the cattle, and to do a little country two-step, not to fall head first onto a dead body in a dumpster.

Ah, the golden years of retirement in the sunshine state.  They are more like pot metal to Emily Rhodes, who discovers the body of the county’s wealthiest rancher in the Big Lake Country Club dumpster.  With her close friend accused of the murder, Emily sets aside her grief at her life partner’s death to find the real killer.  She underestimates the obstacles rural Florida can set up for a winter visitor and runs afoul of a local judge with his own version of justice, hires a lawyer who works out of a retirement home, and flees wild fires hand-in-hand with the man she believes to be the killer. 

http://www.amazon.com/Dumpster-Dying-Florida-hazardous-fairway/dp/1610090063/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304280775&sr=1-1

A Deadly Draught ISBN 978-0-9825899-2-2 at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com and order from independent book sellers; available in trade paperback and on Kindle and Nook. 

Money is always a problem for Hera Knightbridge’s microbrewery, but now drought makes water scarce for all the breweries in the Butternut Valley.  Worse, Hera discovers a rival brewer murdered in his brew barn, making Hera the authorities’ favorite suspect.  To clear her name, her only choice is to join forces with an unlikely partner, the new assistant deputy sheriff, Jake Ryan, her former lover from law school days.  There is unfinished business between these two, and it surfaces repeatedly as they pursue a killer who finally turns on the indefatigable Hera as the next victim.

http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Draught-Lesley-Diehl/dp/0982589921/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_5

 “Murder with all the Trimmings” available on Amazon.com and Omnilit.com as a short story or as part of the anthology The Killer Wore Cranberry.

Thanksgiving dinner is served by Aunt Nozzie with a side of murder and a turkey replacement.  Since only the women in the family are still living, the high level of estrogen circulating at this family get-together is both hilarious and killing.

How do you come up with the names of places and characters in your books?

Many place names are real; often I concoct others by putting together common names from the area.  For example, I created the name of the town on the Big Lake in Florida in Dumpster Dying by using the state tree (Sabal Palm) and joining it to Bay, thus Sabal Bay.  Characters’ names pop into my head.  I do not know where most of them come from.  The name of my protagonist in A Deadly Draught is Hera Knightsbridge.  I like the last name for someone who hand crafts beers.  The first name was one that came to me.  In the sequel to the book, which I am now writing, I explain her name, but you will have to read the book to find out its origin.

Sometimes I am forced by my editor or agent to change the name because it begins with the same letter as others in the book.  So I comply, but secretly I always think of that character by the name I originally gave him or her.

My protagonist in Dumpster Dying is Emily Rhodes.  Little did I know that the real Emily is a ten- year-old girl in Okeechobee.  She showed up at my library book party with her social security card and her birth certificate to show me it was her real name.  She was so excited I had named a character after her.  It was the best moment of my writing life.

How did you develop the character of your protagonist in this book?

In my newest book, Dumpster Dying, Emily Rhodes was created out of one of my “what if” situations.  What if two people were not married, but lived together for many years?  What if everything was in his name?  What if he died and the only will found left everything to his ex-wife?  What if no one in the community in which they wintered in Florida knew any of this? And what if she couldn’t tell anyone because the community was so conservative the people would turn their backs on her?  And then, to top it off, what if she was accused of murder?  And better yet, what if I made this humorous?  What does this make my protagonist?  She is a retired preschool teacher who, because of the murder and her partner’s death, must finally at age 55 find herself, her background, and her identity.  Oh yeah, what if she had a baby out of wedlock years ago and now the grown child shows up on her porch?

What about an antagonist…is there a unique “bad guy” or a recurring nemesis of any kind?

Emily seems to have a number of antagonists—a sleazy lawyer, a Bible-thumping judge, the widow of the dead rancher who accuses Emily of having an affair with her husband, her fellow bartender who finds little to like about winter visitors. Not to mention one tobacco chewing detective whose idea of work is driving to the nearest bar, and another detective who cannot figure out if he likes her or wants to arrest her.  

What is your favorite thing about your book?

There is some kind of magic that occurs when I write about rural Florida.  I love it, but the having been raised on a farm in the Midwest, this is not unlike coming home.  I am especially fond of cows and they have special cows here in Florida’s heartland—Brahmas who have huge, floppy ears and necks so wrinkled they look like they belong on ninety year olds.  They even walk with a special walk, kind of arrogant like.  This place works on me and I find myself writing the craziest stories.  I love to write funny and this place makes me do it.  I do not lift characters out of this setting, but it is somehow easy for me to put together someone who could live in this place.

How is writing in the genre you write, different than other genre?

I like mysteries because I like puzzles.  Putting the plot together is fun and challenging for me, and sometimes surprising too.  Many times I do not know who the murderer is until close to the end.  Sometimes I think I know and find out I have it wrong!

Why and when did you begin writing?

I have always written.  When I was a kid, I would write songs.  I had no musical training, but I liked to make up tunes and write words to them.  My dad played the radio when he milked the cows.  It was tuned either to the Grand Ole Opry or to classical opera.  I did both.  Even though I did not know any language other than English, I would make up the tunes and the words and sing opera.  Oh, did I say I was an only child?  Alone on a farm you learned to amuse yourself.

What is your writing schedule?

I write in the morning and afternoon.  I have learned not to write at night because it revs me up such that I cannot get to sleep and I am not a good sleeper anyway.  My muse has a bad habit of visiting me in the wee hours and nagging me about plot lines.

What projects are you working on now, or plan for the future?

I have a number of manuscripts yearning for my editing attention and I am trying to finish the sequel to A Deadly Draught.  I have begun work on a serious traditional mystery set in upstate New York that focuses on the eastern coyote.

What kind of advice or tips to you have for someone who wants to write and get published?

Write, write, write and edit, edit, edit, but do not do it in isolation.  Find a writing group that you trust.  You may have to try out several to find one right for you.  Find a critique partner; again, you may have to try out a number of them.  Join professional groups.  The best one for advice, feedback, information is the Guppies associated with Sisters in Crime.  You may create in isolation, but you need contact with the profession and those in it to make your work the best it can be.

Remember, there are many roads to publication.  Explore them to find out what fits your writing.

Are there any other comments, advice or tips that you would give to beginning writers?

Writers need to be flexible and to develop a thick skin.  I look back on some of my writing from the past, writing I thought was great, and now I see how much my style has changed, and it needed to change.  If I had been unwilling to hear criticism and to change what I was doing, I would not be published today.  Writing is something you learn to do, not something you instinctively know how to do.  You need a passion for writing, but you must also embrace the idea that you are learning a craft.  Learn the rules, and then you can break them.

What do you do when you are not writing? 

I love to cook.  I like to walk and hike especially in upstate New York where I spend my summers.  Glenn and I love to dance to country western music and island music.  We also spend long conversations talking about writing.  And, of course, I love to read.

What “Made It” moments have you experienced in life?

When a little girl from Okeechobee came to my book party in the local library and brought her social security card and birth certificate to prove she had the same name as the protagonist in Dumpster Dying, I thought that was my “made it” moment.  I was so touched.  I cannot imagine any better feeling.  And she thought she was thrilled, I was delighted.  I got a big hug too!

Want to know more about Lesley, check out her website and blog at: 

www.lesleydiehl.com and http://anotherdraught.blogspot.com
Sleuthfest 2009 short story winner; "Murder with All the Trimmings" from UntreedReads

All comments are welcome.

Some People March to the Beat of Their Own Drummer; I’ve got My Own Band - Says Alina Adams

I have never been very good at doing things like other people.

In high school, I was dropped down from an “A” to a “B” because I simply refused to change my opinion about Catcher in the Rye. I stood by my opinion that while Catcher in the Rye is a brilliantly written book and Holden Caulfied one of the best-characterized protagonists in modern literature, he is also a spoiled, judgmental, rather dim yet self-important snot who wouldn’t know what true human suffering was if he saw pictures of it on the front page of the newspaper.  (Which, considering the novel was published in 1951, included the Korean War, Stalin’s Doctors’ Plot, the “Cloud of Death” in New Guinea, nuclear testing, a 100,000 acre flood across Midwestern farmland, and the most devastating American train crash to date).

My teacher disagreed. Blah, blah, blah… misunderstood adolescent… blah, blah, blah… fragile, tortured soul… blah, blah, blah… metaphor for something or other.

Fine.  Give me the first “B” I ever got in English (and that included the year when I moved to the States and didn’t even speak English).  I still think I am right.

Growing up in a Russian-Jewish community, I had my first child relatively late – at 28.  Living in New York City and working in media, I had my first child relatively early – at 28!

I started out writing romance (The Fictitious Marquis, Thieves at Heart, Annie's Wild Ride, When a Man Loves a Woman). Next, I briefly dabbled in non-fiction (Inside Figure Skating, Sarah Hughes: Skating to the Stars). Then, I moved on to mysteries (Murder on Ice, On Thin Ice, Axel of Evil, Death Drop, Skate Crime) and then decided to try my hand at soap-opera tie-ins (Oakdale Confidential, Jonathan's Story, The Man From Oakdale).

Have I mentioned that I have never been very good at doing things like other people? And so it is with my latest project: Enhanced e-books.

Granted, other people are doing enhanced books, adding photographs, audio, video and links into their narrative. But those, as a rule, are non-fiction works, where the multimedia adds detail and color to the topic at hand.

Even when multimedia is added to works of fiction, the majority of the time, the enhanced content is still non-fiction: Interviews with the author, book trailers, maps, family trees, etc….

What I dream of doing is adding multimedia content that actually contributes and furthers the story. To that end, I am taking the five Figure Skating Mysteries that I published with Berkley Prime Crime and inserting actual skating footage (courtesy of The Ice Theatre of New York) into the text as a part of the overall experience.

My first attempt, “Skate Crime: Multimedia” is an excerpt from the complete novel, Skate Crime, tells the story of an African-American woman who broke the racial barrier. It is based on a real-life sports pioneer, Mabel Fairbanks, her struggles and her triumphs. I took an excerpt from my final Figure Skating Mystery, and added professional videos by The Ice Theatre of New York. It's part mystery, part romance, part book, part movie, and all Storytelling for the 21st Century.

Do I have any idea what I’m doing? Not really.

It isn’t as if I have a blueprint to follow or even anyone to steal ideas from.  My best – and ultimate – judges will be the readers.  I am eager for feedback so I can learn how to make enhanced e-books everything that people want them to be – even if, right now, they don’t even know that they want them. 

I am making it up as I go along, experimenting, seeing what works and what doesn’t, trying anything and everything. But, that’s alright.

You know how I am….

Alina Adams is the New York Times best-selling author of “Oakdale Confidential” and the co-author of “Jonathan’s Story.”  In addition to figure skating mysteries for Berkley, she’s written romances for AVON and Dell, as well as non-fiction.  She can be reached through her website, http://www.alinaadams.com/.  “Skate Crime: Multimedia” retails for .99 cents on Amazon (http://tinyurl.com/SkateCrime), and can be experienced view your iPad, iPhone, Android tablet or desk-top.

Books By Alina Adams at Amazon.com
Skate Crime: Multimedia (Figure Skating Mystery)
The Man from Oakdale
Guiding Light: Jonathan's Story (Paperback)
Guiding Light: Jonathan's Story (Hardcover)
Oakdale Confidential: Secrets Revealed
Oakdale Confidential
Skate Crime: A Figure Skating Mystery
Death Drop: A Figure Skating Mystery
Axel of Evil: A Figure Skating Mystery
On Thin Ice: A Figure Skating Mystery
Murder on Ice: A Figure Skating Mystery
Sarah Hughes: Skating to the Stars
Inside Figure Skating
When a Man Loves a Woman
Annie's Wild Ride
Thieves at Heart
The Fictitious Marquis  

   

At age 10, I watched Lost in Space in the morning, and General Hospital in the afternoon.  By 13, I'd moved on to devouring Sidney Sheldon novels and prime-time soaps.  I wrote my first romance novel at 17.  I didn't show it to anyone, but, ten years later, I did go back and reread it.  It wasn't very good.  But, it wasn't too bad, either.
 
I started sending manuscripts out to publishers when I was 22, but, it wasn't until three years later that I sold my first novel -The Fictitious Marquis, a Regency Romance - to AVON Books.  My second Regency, Thieves at Heart, came out a year later.  But, deep in my heart, I missed the larger-than-life characters and tense, romantic situations I'd cut my teeth on during my soap opera and Sidney Sheldon days.  I knew I wanted to write contemporary romances more than anything.

 Annie's Wild Ride, is my first contemporary romance, and, during the months I was writing it, I became obsessed with the characters.  Every song I heard on the radio reminded me of them.  Every conversation I had with friends and family was mined for lines my characters could say.  For a couple of months there, I lived their lives.

Not that my own life isn't as much fun to live in.  It's been twenty-eight years, and, so far so good.
When I'm not writing for print (fiction, non-fiction, books, magazine articles) I write and produce for television.  I put my love of soap operas to use writing E! Entertainment's Pure Soap, and working on two Daytime Emmy Award shows, as well as for ABC Daytime.  I utilized my love of movies and theater working on the opening of Broadway's Chicago, and FOX's Anastasia.  TV work has taken me all over the world, including France (that's me in front of Notre Dame in January 1997), Switzerland, Japan, Russia, and Israel.
 
The latter two were particularly significant for me, as I was born in the former USSR, but, being Jewish, my family high-tailed it out of there as soon as possible (1977).  The only English word I knew starting the second grade (in the middle of the year) in San Francisco, CA was 'the.'  It has proven to be a very useful word.
 
But, even when I could barely speak English, I was already a story-teller.  There was no way to avoid it.  It's in the blood.  All the women in my family love to talk.  And talk.  And talk.  My grandmother tells stories about long-lost relatives with details so vivid and precise, they practically materialize in front of your eyes.  My mother and aunt interrupt those stories to add details and recollections of their own, and then my cousin and I interrupt with questions.  It's a process.  And a tradition.  That's a picture of all of us talkers -- my grandmother Khana, my aunt Janna, my mother, Nelly, my cousin, Julia, and me, holding my newest cousin, Isabelle.  When this photo was taken, she hadn't yet started to talk.  But, these days, she's certainly making up for lost time (mostly English, but her dad throws a Russian word or two in there).
 Now, I'm just waiting for her to learn how to read!

Check out her website at http://www.alinaadams.com/.