The hardest story to tell so often is the one that begins and ends at your doorstep. The story of yourself. I have never thought there was much to say on the subject of “me.” Opening up my inner universe and talking about myself  is not an easy task, but I will do my best to offer you a peek inside the inner chambers of my life.

I am unconventional in my writing approach. I do not create outlines or story arcs. I let the story begin as it chooses and I am as surprised by the plot in its creation as the reader is in their initial first read. I never know where it will lead or where it will end until the last page is written. I tend to write in the wee hours of the morning, when all is quiet. I like the silence because the worlds I create are boisterous, and they need the space to breath and expand. My writing companion is my little Pommy, Sassy. She is ever faithful in her duties. I have a full time day job that helps pay the bills, but my writing is my passion. Early mornings are my stolen hours of bliss.

My greatest inspiration and the person I ultimately write for is my beloved husband, Mustapha. He brought the excitement and joy back into my life when my words had grown silent. He helped me find my voice again and reminded me why I loved the written word. He believed in me when I couldn’t believe in myself. He is the sunrise that illuminates each day for me, and he is the starlight that make each night a glory to behold. Because of him, I have a second home in the beautiful land of Morocco.

My greatest hope as a writer is to bring joy to my readers. As a child, when I wasn’t buried nose-deep in the pages of a book, I was searching through the shelves of the secondhand bookstores just up the road from our house. I still have most of the books I purchased from those early days, tucked away on my shelves like the old friends they became. Well loved and well read. I have often imagined a day when some book scavenger, digging through the stacks of a secondhand bookstore, would find one of my titles and consider it a “treasure” worthy of collecting. My novel would become a well loved, well read book within their treasured collection. Such a moment would epitomize true success and be a story worth telling.