Q: When did you know you were a writer?
A: That's easy - I've always known! Of course, knowing I'm a "writer" who sketches in her journal, cranks out resumés for family and friends, or is heavy with correspondence is very different than a writer who writes for publication. That part of me came later in life while taking graduate courses at Michigan State University. In a creative writing class at MSU, a professor and writer whom I greatly admire (Gordon Henry) encouraged me. I took him seriously and began to submit my work. As matter of fact, a story I wrote in his class won the Glendon Swarthout Best Fiction award at MSU that year.

Q: Your novel, Melody to the Night, deals with the hearing impaired. Why do you feel qualified to write about this issue?
A: My grandmother was deaf and she lived with us until I was twelve. I was very close to her. However, there was always this juxtaposition in our home - my father was an entertainer with his own singing group that rehearsed in our house, two of my sisters were dancers, one was a cheerleader and another the high school mascot. All sisters were musicians playing everything from piano to flute to clarinet to voice. Oh, the music in our house! Even my baby brother would enter the fray with his theatrical interpretations of somersaults. Then there was grandma, with her deafness. I remember many evenings snuggled with her in her totally silent basement-apartment while above us the rafters literally shook with music and dance. It is the sense of love-and-safety-in-silence, one I enjoyed with Grandma, which I've tried to capture in Melody.

Q: Are the characters in Melody to the Night based on real characters?
A: The only character who is loosely modeled after someone in real life is Birdy's grandmother. And this is definitely a loose interpretation! As far as the other characters, though some exhibit traits from people I have known, no one actually "is" anyone. For example, Jack's moral code is in homage to both my father and husband; Birdy's musical talents are in homage to my siblings; Jack's mom is a professional chef who makes the best darn shortbread in them thar hills and she is in homage to my mother.

Q: What is your next novel about?
A: The next novel takes place in the same part of the country - my beloved Appalachia - but is very different. The story spins on a clan of women and their seemingly mystical dogs. The underlying theme is universal: time marches on, memories are forever. But how these themes unfold with murders and saving-the-planet and Alzheimer's and enduring relationships is what I've had the most fun writing. As a matter of fact, as I pen this I am looking out at the rolling hills of the Smokies and both Gwendolyn and Charlene (characters in this new novel) are getting impatient for my return. So I better get back to work.