| All About J.D. |
| "If you can't laugh at life, what's the fun of living it!" ~ Grace Gibbs Figuring it out With Grace! |
I was born in Portland, OR at Emanuel Hospital in 1971. My family then moved to Bend, OR when I was five. I remember that move not so fondly because during our move south, I lost my favorite stuffed puppy dog. He was sort of a burnt-amber color with big floppy ears. I still wonder what happened to that damn dog! I attended a private Catholic School, St. Francis (which is now a McMenamins pub. If I really wanted to, I could spend the night in any of my old classrooms named after my former teachers.) ODD, but very interesting to see if you ever visit Bend, OR. My first love. I'll leave his name out of this...the first boy to ever break my heart, is now a pediatric cardiologist. Ironic how he broke my heart and now he fixes children's hearts as his profession. I graduated from Bend Senior High with high hopes of becoming a physical therapist. My SAT scores were good enough to get me into Oregon State University, so I followed my sister's footsteps and became a Beaver in 1990. I then spent too much time 'having fun' with my fun friends at Lamba Chi Alpha and found out just how bad I was at science. I then fell in love with boy number two. That disaster had me dropping out and moving across the country. I took my first airplane ride ever to New York City. Spent 19 months in southern Connecticut, bouncing around from home to home, trying to find a comfortable place to put down my roots. I met my two best friends there, Debbie and Tisha. My time in Connecticut was the best time of my life (until I had my own children, of course). I traveled. I saw NY city a number of times. I got my picture taken at Fenway Park, the world trade center, and Cape Cod. I met a bartender named Mike at Cheers in Boston...the rest of the story is X-rated, but let me just say, Cheers really was a friendly place. I learned a lot. I met some wonderful people and I will never forgot my wild, uninhibited days back east. In August of 1992 I took a nine day road-trip back to the west coast with my dad in my new Toyota Corolla. We saw the Grand Canyon. Lake Powell. Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Nashville, Boulder, CO. It was by far the most memorable trip I have ever taken and it was incredibly special to spend that much time alone with my dad!! Then I found myself back in Portland, OR, living with my older sister. I began working at the Monarch Hotel in September of 1992...where I met the love of my life. We married in 1995...(Divorce coming soon. I'm sure there will be a book about it! ) We have 2 amazing children. A house in the Vancouver Suburbs. A boat, a dog named Bogey and we spend the majority of our time fishing. (Okay, so he fishes and I shop!!) In April of 2004, I woke from a dream of writing a novel. I got up and starting writing that morning. I had finished my first novel less than 2 months later. A month after that, I had found a literary agent and here I am now. Jill 9 was released in 2006. Charlie Ford came out in April of 2007, and so on and so on... and I couldn't be happier, nor could I feel more fortunate that my dream actually came true!! ~~ My take on cranky people -- get over it and put a damn smile on your face. You only live once and you shouldn't sweat the small stuff. I'm a mom in this life, but in my next life I'm coming back as an NFL quarterback, turned kick-ass FBI agent. When I was young, I wanted to be a police-woman, a quarterback and a mom. My favorite color is purple. I love the The NFL. (The Seahawks & Vikings, even though they sometimes disappoint me) My pet-peeve is anyone without a sense of humor. What makes me laugh most is myself. I can really crack myself up on any given day and usually about nothing at all. Someday, I will sit on the 50 yd line at the Superbowl. The person I would most want to meet, dead of alive, is Walter Payton. My greatest joy is waking up and seeing my kids. My only vices are that I'm addicted to Survivor and I love Merlot. I felt safe with George Bush as our president. When I write, I hold nothing back. No holds barred and no sugar-coating life. Life is funny. Life is nutty and life is sometimes raw and uncensored! Sex scenes are really easy to write after I drink two glasses of wine and watch Fatal Attraction or Basic Instinct. My favorite saying: "God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can and Wisdom to know the difference." & a close second would be "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." My proudest moment: The day I gave birth and held the little person that I had nurtured and grown inside me for nine long months. My goals for the future: Be more patient. Less controlling. Find a nice balance in life. Live. Laugh and Love! I am a proud member of the Romance Writers of America: The Rose City Chapter. Also a member of the PNWA & Sisters in Crime. My latest accomplishment was signing a three book contract with A_Argus Better Book Publishing. I have also recently signed on with Strategic Book Publishing in NY. |
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