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April Fool's Day Contest!!!

3/29/2016

Happy April Fool's day! I hope you're having fun so far. If not, I have a treat for you to spice up your day.

I've teamed up with Indie B.R.A.G. and other B.R.A.G. medallion authors to give you a chance to enter for a $50 Amazon gift card! Readers who comment here on my game will also be entered for a chance to win an eBook copy of the Young Adult fantasy book, The Dragons's Chosen.

First, let's go over the rules:

To enter for the $50 giveaway, click on the indieBRAG website starting April 1st, and comment to enter your chance to win a $50.00 Amazon Gift Card!
Visit each author's websites, and comment on their post to enter a chance to win a copy of their book.
The winner will for the Amazon prize will be announced on the indieBRAG website on April 5th. And each author will announce the winner for their giveaways on their sites at the date they choose.
You must be 18 years or older to participate in the prize & giveaway.
Giveaway is open internationally.
The winner has 48 hours to claim prize and giveaway or a new winner is chosen.

Let's Play!

To play, leave me a comment on this blog post on whether or not you think the following scene is a real one from The Dragon's Chosen or if I'm playing an April Fool's joke on you. That's it! I'll come back soon to let you know whether this scene is really from The Dragons'Chosen or not.

--
The tower had windows, dark and dusty, facing three directions with heavy drapes hanging from high brass rods. Southward, a road curved past a derelict mansion, about two stones’ throw away. Swallows dipped and dove, through the mansion’s broken windows, pigeons roosted in the eaves and red squirrels scurried in and out through the open doors. Beyond that the road meandered through brambly fields and heath covered hills before disappearing into a forest.

I paced back and forth between the panels. Each had murals painted in soft pastels. From my balcony they looked like happy pastoral scenes of a lass and lad. Different couples in each of six panels. But on closer examination each mural showed a fearful thing. In one the tall reeds in a bucolic pond had eyes. In the next, taloned hands reached out from an ancient sycamore and grasped the ankles of one couple. Within each panel, something lurked, and within each panel, the happy smiles of the couple were offset by the despair in their eyes. I cringed whenever I looked upon them.

--

What do you think? Real, or fake? Let me know in the comments.

INDIEBRAG BLOG HOP PRIZE & GIVEAWAYEach author is presenting a scene that may, or may not, be from their book. Follow the wisp to light your way from blog to blog as you read today. Take a good guess, make a careful choice, and decide for yourself if you hear the author's voice.
Comment on each post if the excerpt is real, or an April Fools jest. Look for authors offering book giveaways and enter their raffles. Be sure to visit the IndieBRAG Website to enter for the Grand Prize - a $50.00 Amazon Gift Card!
Grand Prize and book giveaways start April 1st. The winner of the $50.00 Amazon Gift Card will be announced on April 5th on the indieBRAGWebsite. each author will announce the winner for their giveaways on their sites at the date of their choosing.Rules:The chance to enter for the prize and giveaways ends April 4th. The winner will for the Amazon prize will be announced on the indieBRAG Website on April 5th, and each author will announce the winner for their giveaways on their sites on the date they have chosen.
You must be 18 years or older to participate in the prize & giveaway.
Giveaway is open internationally.
Winner has 48 hours to claim prize and giveaway or a new winner is chosen.

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Throwing Stones at the Wrong Target

6/3/2015

1 Comment

Let me start this conversation by stating that I am a feminist. I lived through the ’60 and know what is like to be told that women can’t, can’t being defined as whatever I wanted that men could do.

I remember the social structures that restricted me, some were blatant and some subtle. Sometimes it was official rules and sometimes only the pressures within my family that herded me into a tightly bound role that didn’t suit me.

But none of those are reflected in Andrew Smith’s controversy. Here is what was said.

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Question:

On the flip side, it sometimes seems like there isn’t much of a way into your books for female readers. Where are all the women in your work?

Answer:
I was raised in a family with four boys, and I absolutely did not know anything about girls at all. I have a daughter now; she’s 17. When she was born, that was the first girl I ever had in my life. I consider myself completely ignorant to all things woman and female. I’m trying to be better though.

--

Now that doesn’t sound inflammatory to my ear. That sounds honest and not particularly newsworthy. But it has been pounced on with a fever akin to witch hunting. To me his statement sounds mild. Probably not so different from what a woman from an all girl household might say about men. Yes, he is married and has a daughter, but that always doesn’t give you the “inside of the head” context necessary to write deeply about a character, so he sticks to what he knows. Gosh, how offensive! (sarcasm here for the literal)

He isn’t putting women down or attacking them. He isn’t calling for new regulations to “help” them. He isn’t railing against woman behavior and trying to restrict them.

He simply acknowledges a lack of comprehension in how women think.

While there is plenty of hate to go around, this isn’t the right place to lay blame. We need to lay that at the feet of those who truly are hurting women. Trust me, there are lots of options here.

Controversy

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A Case for Fiction as a Teaching Tool

11/6/2014

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All of us were kids once, maybe some of us twice (or still) and all of us have spent hours in a classroom learning. Writers are in the glorious position of being able to help learning be fun. We write. We write stories and tell tales.

Often books are written either to educate or to entertain. I wish to make the case that both can be done in a single book.

When I was little, just learning to read, I discovered a fairly thick book called The Burgess Bird book for Children by Thorton W. Burgess. He was a noted conservationist who wanted to teach children about birds. This book told a lovely story about a rabbit whose friends were birds. I learned about bird nests and bird habitat and bird calls but I didn’t consider it studying. This was my first introduction to learning where it was just a fun read.

That is the case I wish to make, learning should be fun. There is no reason it must be a struggle to acquire knowledge. Books should pull you in and make the process of learning pleasant.

When I started writing The Stone Lions, the task I set myself was to write a book that would make math interesting to girls. And I did, or at least I did my darnedest. I wrote a book that was a fantasy and a mystery, but hidden within, though in plain sight, were seven painless lessons on band symmetry.

The novel could be read for pure entertainment, just to find out what happens to Ara and her friends. Or it could be read to learn a bit of history. Or as a beginning window into the world of Islam. Or for a math lesson.

Additionally, in The Stone Lions, there are appendices that summarize the lessons of within the book, pictures of what the Alhambra’s layout looked like pre-1500 and a glossary of terms. For those whose interest has been piqued, my website, http://www.gwendandridge.com, provides even more examples of symmetry and symmetry quizzes.

There are many, many good fiction books that could be used to draw students in to love learning. Here are a few:

Fever 1793 Laurie Halsh Anderson – a great writer and excellent book
Saving Miner’s Gulch Kimberly Troutte - gold rush history in a fun romp.
One Came Home Amy Timberlake – 1871 American history, passenger pigeon
Wish You Weren’t Sherrie Peterson – sci/fi which includes many science details.
The Book Thief Markus Zusak – WWII Germany

Here is a list of excellent middle grade historical fiction.

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/middle-grade-historical-fiction

America’s Common Core Initiative leans toward using non-fiction books to teach, but as I’ve pointed out, fiction can teach as well. You just need writers to take that leap, teachers and parents to see the potential and readers to open the books.

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Stephanie Hopkin's Interview of The Stone Lions

10/24/2014

1 Comment

Stephanie: Hey, Gwen! Congrats on the B.R.A.G. Medallion! That is wonderful and what high praise indeed for your story. How did you discover indieBRAG?

Please tell your audience about your book?

Gwen: The Stone Lions is a multi-cultural fantasy that takes place in the late 1300s in Islamic Spain. As a minor note, it also teaches band symmetry so it is idea for the common core curriculum. It can be read as a pure fantasy or used to understand historic Islamic culture or teach symmetry. There are levels upon levels that it touches. Here’s the basic story:

In the last throes of the 14th century, Islamic Spain is under pressure from Castile and Aragon. Ara, the twelve-year old daughter to the Sultan, finds herself in the center of a political intrigue when her eunuch tutor is magically transformed by the evil Wazir.

Can a little girl save her friend and tutor with the help of a Sufi mathemagician? Intertwined in a mystery of math, art and magic, Ara races to find the seven broken symmetries before time runs out.

Stephanie: What genre would you say this falls under and why did you chose the middle age group to write the story for?

Gwen: The genre is fantasy.

I was asked to write a book for younger readers by a Dartmouth math professor that would teach band symmetry. As someone who is wary of any math, I wanted to make the math part so organic to the story that it didn’t feel like a lesson, but more of a mystery or a puzzle.

Stephanie: Are there any messages in your book you would like your readers to grasp?

Gwen: Perhaps two messages. One, that people throughout time and cultures have the same basic desires and hopes. And, two, that math is something other than numbers. Arithmetic is numbers, math is not necessarily so constrained.

Stephanie: Why did you chose Alhambra in the late 14h century for your period and setting for the story?

Gwen: I was visiting the Alhambra with friends when I started the story. I fell so in love with the place and the design work that it tumbled out from there. The patterning on the wall and floors and ceiling were inescapable and awesome. I chose the 14th century because it was a time of flowering for the Islam. They were ahead of their time then, women could inherit (which they couldn’t in Europe), they allowed other religions to exist (as long as they paid a tax), they bathed (European weren’t quite so clean). Interestingly some women in other area of Europe also were veiled during that time.

Stephanie: Tell me about the little Islamic girl named Ara, who is the Sultan’s daughter? What are her strengths and weaknesses and what is an example of her life in the palace?

Gwen: Ara is curious and a little impulsive. She’s a risk taker. She’s someone who has lived a life of privilege within the confines of her time and culture. And she wishes for more: more freedom, more learning and more knowledge. I picked her age as young enough to have some freedom within her world. She not reached the age when she is cloistered with the harem or required to wear a hijab.

Stephanie: How does art/math play a role in your story?

Gwen: The math is the heart of the story. The symmetries within the Alhambra are being broken and Ara must repair them or the Alhambra will fall.

Stephanie: What are the historical significances in your story?

Gwen: Gosh, so much. I tried to be true to the time and culture. Grenada was under pressure from all sides at that time. But it was a time of great beauty.

So many, many of the details that you see in there are lifted from information that I learned during this process.

Stephanie: How did you research the Islamic life in the period this story is written in? And what fascinates you about the culture?

Gwen: I read over thirty books on Islamic culture and history.

I went to museums here in California, in NY, in Spain, in France and England. There I was able to see what kind of art existed during that time period. I took an art history class on Islamic art.

I spoke to a Sufi and she read an early version of The Stone Lions for me. I joined the Medievalist History listserv and looked over their shoulders.

I communicated with an expert of the Alhambra who is a professor in Spain. He helped me with details of what the Alhambra looked like during that time.

During my travels I’ve discovered hidden gems of stories that we aren’t exposed to here in the states. Everywhere you go, whether it’s a small town in Mississippi or deep in the Scottish highlands there are stories waiting to be gleaned. Everyone has a story.

Stephanie: Tell me about the photo shoot of all the images in the original Owen Jones book on the Alhambra you did and how does this relate to your story?

Gwen: When I wrote the book, I realized I would need lots of images for the symmetries. I wanted them to have a connection to the Alhambra. Not all are, but my daughter and her husband helped me photograph each page of the Owen Jones book. Santa Barbara City College did an interlibrary loan for me so that I could have access to that book. I couldn’t remove it from the library but we could carefully turn each page of this delicate and huge book while one of us stood on a chair and photographed page by page.

Stephanie: When you spent two weeks in Spain, what are some of the sites you visited and what was your impressions of them. And did this help you with your story?

One of the cool things we did in Spain was live in a cave, the Sacramento Caves. You can rent them and they have bedrooms and a bath. J It is very dark when the light are off.

We also travel to Cordoba and went to the Great Mosque there.

Stephanie: What was your writing process for this story and how long did you take to write it?

Gwen: At that time I worked as a systems’ analyst so I had limited time to write. I made sure to sit down three times a day for twenty minutes each to write. Sometimes I wrote on my lunch break. It took me about nine months to get a strong draft with all the images done. I was pushing a deadline as it was going to be used in a patterning class at Dartmouth.

Stephanie: Who are your influences? What are you currently reading?

Gwen: I read a lot of fantasy.

Stephanie: How much time weekly do you spend on writing and how much time do you spend on research?

Gwen: It depends on the book. The Stone Lions was the most intensive for research. I had to learn symmetry and Islamic history and culture. It took a huge amount of time. Fortunately, a number of my friends are professors of chemistry and math and they spend oodles of time teaching me symmetry so that I could, in turn, explain it to middle grade readers.

Normally I try to write every day, but I also do art, so many things via for time. When I am focused on a book, I do write every day. I drag my manuscript around with me wherever I go.

Stephanie: Have you ever come across anything unexpected or something that caught you off guard in your research?

Gwen: Many, many times. I hadn’t known the Lions’ fountain that is currently in the Court of the Lions was not the original one. It was stolen centuries ago.

Stephanie: How do you organize your research?

Gwen: When I research, I keep notes of anything that I find interesting. I’m not very organized. I do own a lot of books, so I can always return to them when I need a particular piece on information.

Stephanie: What is up next for you?

Gwen: The second book of The Stone Lions (The Jinn’s Jest) is almost ready to fly. I also have a book that is ready, The Dragons’ Chosen. I’m hoping this will be out soon.

Stephanie: Where can readers buy your book?

Amazon or B&N or most of the online dealers have it available.

Gwen: Thank you, Gwen!

About Author:

My romance with fantasy was started when at age eight I discovered libraries, in libraries were fairy tale books. After that, I always expected to find a fairy beneath each flower, each rustle of leaves.

From there I went on to Walter Farley’s Stallion books. But my love went into a full blown affair at an Outward bound trip when half-way down the Colorado River one of the men talked about reading the Hobbit. I’ve been hooked on fantasy ever since.

I’ve been the SCBWI co-coordinator for Santa Barbara County and still function as the listserve administrator for the tri-county region.

My degree in psychology has only been used to understand dragons.

I worked as a system’s analyst (Oracle databases) at Santa Barbara Community College but much of my outside work time is spent doing art of various sorts: stained glass, pottery, basketry, large boulder mosaics, silk wall hangings, etc. I have a B.A. in Psychology, a two year certificate in Computer Information Systems and many classes in Writing, Art and Art History. I bake regularly and garden seriously (I have over 40 different fruit trees on the property).

Reading is my passion as is notable by the walls of books in my house.

My golden retriever and my husband keep me active hiking and roaming the Santa Barbara hills.

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Solvang Middle Grade Writing Workshop

9/18/2014

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Val Hobbs, Kimberley Troutte, Sherrie Peterson and me

A lovely thing happened recently. Four of my writing group led a Middle Grade Writing Workshop up at the Solvang library a few weeks ago. We enjoyed two and a half hours with the twenty-five or so writers who came. The joy of this spilled out from the very beginning. Carey McKinnon welcomed us with cookies and juice and lovely spaces to work. We all benefitted from her organization and kindness.

Before we began, we signed books and spoke to some of the attending writers: some just starting out, some well on their way and some already published.

Once we began Sherrie, Kim, Val and I handed out material for the sessions. We mixed talking with exercises that we hope would be beneficial. And we were fortunate to have a sterling group of writers who leapt into participating.

For us though, the ultimate joy was hearing that a new writing group formed from writers in this workshop. This is the best payback we could ask for.

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Worldwide Character Blog Tour

8/17/2014

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Oh, the characters are walking amongst us. Look out!

Kimberley Troutte tagged me to participate in the Character Blog Tour. Kimberley is an amazing writer and delightful person. Among her diverse writings are a middle grade novel, Saving Miners’ Gulch and many romance novels. Coming in Hot is in the acclaimed Seals of Summer collection. Recently she has published The God Whisperer, a lovely story about a young boy who hears God.

Kim’s blog

You can also find her on Facebook: Kim’s facebook page

For this tour the author is supposed to talk about a new Work In Progress or released book. I am going to talk about The Dragons’ Chosen.

What is the name of your character? Is she fictional or a historic person? Chris Draig and she is fictional, though she has many of the fun quirks of Berkeley people I knew during the early ’70’s.

When and where is the story set? While Chris is a sophomore at Berkeley in 1974, the story takes place exclusively in a medieval world with dragons and princesses.

What should we know about her? She’s someone who’s involved in the political change during the 1960’s.

What is the main conflict? What messes up her life? Trying to save the Princess Genevieve from being sacrificed to the dragons. Chris’s conflict is between her world and Genevieve’s world. Is it real and why is she there?

Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it? The Dragons’ Chosen. The first chapter is out on my web site: Gwen’s Website

When can we expect the book to be published? Spring 2015

The next author to continue this character tour next week is: Dorothy Johnson

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Where Do Ideas Come From?

5/17/2014

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My books always start with my asking the question, “what if."

What if I wrote a book about symmetry and the Alhambra for kids. What could I do to make it interesting and readable.

What if a medieval princess had a fairy godmother who was from the women’s liberation movement.

What if the girl locked in the tower was not a gentle princess but a rowdy hooligan.

What if demons appeared in Berkeley. Why would they appear and to whom.

Once I ask these questions then the characters and plot flow from there. My understanding of my characters and the story develop as I write. I put my characters into a situation and see how they react. And as I write, I know them better so their story deepens and evolves.

When I started my Alhambra book, I was there. Once I returned home, I read books and books about Islamic history, art and medieval culture. I joined the Mideast-Medieval Islamic History forum. I requested books from the library loan program (Owen Jones’ book on the Alhambra). I corresponded with an Alhambra scholar in Spain. I went to museums to look at artifacts from that time. I read current books on harem life from women who had lived in them (Fatima Mernissi—Dreams of Trespass).

There are many ways to come up with stories. So how do you get your idea? Do you ask "what if" or "what happened" or "how come" or something else entirely?

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More Rewriting! And a Small Success.

4/1/2014

1 Comment

Everyone has a process for writing. Mine blows like the wind. It exists but it is ever changing. It can blow soft and stir around a few fallen leaves or it can blow hard and knock down a tree or three.

When I started writing I set up a schedule of writing three times a day for twenty minutes. I was working with my tendency to avoid what I don’t like. I found that I could convince myself to focus on writing that much each day. If I wrote during those times, it was good. Those twenty minutes could easily morph into a half an hour or two hours if things went well. If it didn’t—I was still thinking about the book and I would count that as progress, which it was.

In future years my process evolved through writing each morning before leaving for work to writing late at night before going to bed. Now I usually write in the mornings, often take a walk to think through plot and character development and then sit down and write once some more.

Lately though, all I have been doing is rewriting, and rewriting and rewriting. Two months ago I focused on with the dragon book trying to tighten up the middle. Then I edged into the The Jinn’s Jest, sharpening a few more chapters.

This last month I worked on revising The Stone Lions, not even the type of rewriting that make exciting changes to the plot, just pouring over verb structure and looking for those little changes that can strengthen each sentence. And making more adjustments to further nail a historic period. All this on a book I already had out.

But it paid off!

The Stone Lions just got the gold seal of excellence from Awesome Indies, but it took work to polish it to a burnish. Many people helped, especially an editor at Awesome Indies, GJ Berger. He pushed, cajoled and encouraged me to go just a bit further to make my book shine.

Now that The Stone Lions is done (eight months after its initial release) I hope to take that time and energy and spread it out over my other manuscripts.

This is yet another reminder for me (and other indy writers) to give each book the full attention it deserves—before you publish!

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Rewriting

2/17/2014

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I’m not a rewriter by nature. Whenever I started writing, I felt like it was a fait accompli—a done deal. And that nothing added or retracted could possibly make it better. After fifteen years of writing, I now understand, as my instructor told me again and again, “Writing is rewriting.”

It’s been hard for me to open my hand and let the words go that I have written. These are gems (at least in my mind) that I painstakingly mined that now must be culled from the manuscript.

The theory goes that the first draft is to spill your ideas and characters onto the blank page and breathe a story into existence. This can mean a quick jog to frame the story or a serious slog as you unravel the tale’s journey. Once that foundation is done--you have something on the page--the next step is revision. I find that my process starts even earlier, with each chapter getting a quick swipe of the pen before I leap forward to the next. During that process, the revisiting early chapters, I learn who my characters are and how each thinks and behaves.

Once I have a completed novel, then the hard work starts. Each character’s arc has to be scrutinized, each chapter arc gets a look. How are my secondary characters being treated? Are they strong enough or just taking up space? Maybe I should kill an extraneous character, add a plot line or rip out my very favorite line. What’s the theme, can I reinforce it by adding or taking away something?

Chapters expand and contract, move around or sometimes die during this process. If a chapter doesn’t lend itself to the telling of this particular story, it must go.

After the structure is completed, there are additional passes: repetitive words search, language that jars, phrases that can be strengthened.

What I’ve described is not the entirety of the process, only a small part. But revision is the heart of writing. And while there may never be a valentine-like love between me and rewriting, I’m attempting to, at the very least, embrace the sucker!

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Blog Hop - My Writing Process

2/7/2014

1 Comment

I was fortunate to be asked to participate in the “My Writing Process” blog hop. I want to thank James DiBenedetto for inviting me.

So what am I writing and how do I do it?

1)    What am I working on?

Ah. I have five novels in the works right now, all fantasy. Two are almost ready to go out. One is about ¾ done to a solid first draft. Two have a long, long way to go. The first chapters of each are available on my website.

2)    How does my work differ from others of its genre?

The Stone Lions and its sequel, The Jinn’s Jest are the most different. They combine math and storytelling with a middle grade multicultural fantasy. Not many people write about Islamic girls from the 14th century who solve symmetry mysteries.

With my young adult novels, each book has its own tone. In one story I play with a two women from disparate cultures joining forces, in another I explore longing—wanting something you can have but must let go of.

But no matter what I write, the female protagonists are strong, though in very different ways. Strength is not always physical, but often can be shown in doing what you know is right and staying true to your values.

3) Why do I write what I do?

I love exploring old stories and adding a new twist to them. Lady and the Tower has the kernels of Rapunzel and many other fairy tales in it, but with a very different heroine.Dark started with the question of who would be the best person to defeat a basilisk, The Dragons’ Chosen came from wondering about fairy godmothers.

I like to write about heroines who, each in their own way, confront and challenge the mores of their time and world. With The Jinn’s Jest, the sequel to The Stone Lions, I thought about Jinn, what they are in mythology and how they have been portrayed.Seven Demons, while still in its infancy, is looking at guilt and redemption in demons.

The Stone Lions was started because I was asked to by a friend of mine. And from that has evolved the whole line of work.

4) How does your writing process work?

I sit down in front of a computer. I scribble notes on a piece of paper. I take long walks. I do hours of research. I’ve found that there are lots of ways to get to the same place. In the early days of my writing, I made a simple rule for myself: to sit with no other distractions and work on my writing for twenty minutes, three times a day. It didn’t mean anything had to be written, just that I seriously committed to the process.

Now I have a writing group and also attend workshops and retreats when I can.

I’ve picked three fellow authors to continue the hop, so please visit them too!

Louisa Clarkson (LJ Clarkson) crafts whimsical, inspiring fantasy adventures that keeps tweens reading for days.

www.mastermindacademy.net

Rosie Morgan is author of a young teen fantasy series set in Cornwall, UK, which also happens to be where she lives.
http://www.rosie-morgan-cornwall.blogspot.co.uk
ND Richman  writes a series of middle grade books targeted at reluctant readers, called the Boulton Quest Series. The first in the series, Brothers, Bullies and Bad Guys was published in April of 2013.
http://www.ndrichman.com/blog/

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I was born in the deep South, where many writers are grown along side the cotton and horses of that rich land, but I lived on Long Island most of my first years.

It was after I moved to Berkeley, dragging along three small children, that I started to think about creating something more...

For awhile I managed to subsume most of my afterwork creativity into dance. I flitted from Scandinavian to Irish, to English step dancing, to Morris dance and sword. Having a short (or sometimes long) fling with each until finally settling on Morris and English short sword (Rapper) as my favorites.

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