For me, as for most writers, the route to getting a novel published was a circuitous one. Looking back, though,
it seems as if all my wanderings led to it.
I was born in Washington, DC but, as the daughter of an American Foreign Service officer, I ended up living
much of my childhood overseas. It turned out to be helpful. When we moved to Denmark I could no
longer understand what was being said on TV and so finally, at age ten, turned to books for entertainment.
When we returned to the US, I was sixteen. I went to a local high school and marvelled at all things American.
I graduated from the College of William and Mary with a BA in Government but wish now I had majored in English.
I spent a junior year in Paris where I specialized in eating. In fact, one of my first writing stints after college was for
the Washington Post Food Section where I wrote about local food personalities and tested endless recipes,
an experience which would ten years later feed (excuse the pun) intomy first novel, How to Cook a Tart.
After writing about travel and lifestyle for national magazines and earning no money I set off for LA to gain fame
and fortune as a screenwriter (actually I was following a boyfriend). I settled for a secretary job at Columbia Pictures.
I drank schnapps with Arnold, flirted with Jack and complimented the Person Formerly Known as Prince on how
well his cherry lollipop matched his outfit. I also watched grown men fight like children over parking spaces
and make theirsecretaries pick peanut M&M’s out of a mixed candy dish because well…they didn’t like
peanut M&M’s. I finally left Columbia Pictures to write the screenplay that was going to make me rich and
ended up six months later working as a temp in an ear plug factory.
Luckily I met my soon-to-be husband, Andrew, an Australian who teaches at the London School of Economics,
and found myself living in London. It was here that I began writing How to Cook a Tart. I wrote in the early mornings
and while our new baby, Lara, took naps. As I was quite housebound I wrote about something I was familiar
and fascinated with: food.
A couple of years later we spent a year in Singapore where my husband was on sabbatical. A local writers group
was kind enough toinvite me to join them. It turned out they were writing romances and it was from this that I got
the idea to write Mounting Desire. We had a great time in Singapore. We ate like pigs, jay-walked like mad and
had another baby: Ben.
We’re back now in London which we enjoy but can’t really afford. I miss the States and visit as often as possible.
Since we’ve been back in London I’ve written a third novel called Believe Me (Penguin).
It’s about an atheist mother whose son, she discovers, is sneaking off to bible class. The idea for Believe Me stemmed
from my own indecision about whether to raise my children with a religious faith. I began to wonder, what are the
consequences of denying a child a belief in heaven?
These days, I’m working on my fourth novel. It is about (surprise, surprise) an American living London. School runs
and household chores are taking their toll but I am determined to finish it. Wish me luck.