Other than writing, critiquing, editing, and reading, I do very little except cat hair removal. Lots of cat hair.
History:
I was born in Eugene, Oregon and I live there now. But I didn't stay put. I've lived in both California and Washington for extended periods. My older son, Chris, is still in Seattle. My younger son, Mark, migrated to Ocala, Florida when he met and married the love of his life, Brenda.
I have two extraordinary and beautiful granddaughters, Audrey and Janae. They live in eastern Washington with the mother.
My sons were fathered by Bruce VanNatta, one of the founders of a computer company that existed right along with Altair and before Steve Jobs was out of high school. The owner of the company, Bill Millard, who had no technical expertise at all, and replied completely on Bruce, Joe Killian, and other computer engineers to design and build the product, also founded Computerland--originally Computer Shack, until Radio Shack told them they couldn't use the word Shack.
Millard promised a percentage of IMSAI to Bruce and Joe, then proceeded to defraud them and many other people by robbing the one company to establish the second. Conveniently, he bankrupted IMSAI leaving nothing for Bruce and Joe. However, Bill went on to be listed in the Forbe's 500 wealthiest people in the world. Yes, I am still resentful.
I left Bruce to return to Oregon and opened a little bookstore called Peralandra in Eugene. When Bruce refused to pay child support as ordered, I had to give up the bookstore and get a real job.
That actually turned out to be a lucky happenstance. I got a job working in the Lane County IT department as a contract technical writer. When a programmer job opened up, I was hired. My fellow programmer became my best friend. Beth Aylworth and I are still in contact regularly after 30+ years. She is wonderful in all respects. We even worked together at two other jobs. One in Washington and again for the State of Oregon Judicial Department.
While I was working at Lane County, a friend of mine played matchmaker, introducing me to my husband of 34 years, Jack. He's been a keeper for many reasons, including adopting my two sons when deadbeat dad Bruce signed off on it thereby ending any possibility of child support. Later, Bruce did regret the way he treated his sons, but it was too late. A few years ago, Bruce was murdered. I wrote about this in a story titled "Shasta Lake" which I have included in my short story anthology "Mixed Bag II: Supersized."
Following enough years at the State to collect a modest pension (no, I didn't get rich on my state employee retirement), I quit working so I could try my hand at fiction. That was in 2005. Since then, I've written several books and have others contracted for release over the next couple of years.
See my Website for all that stuff.
