I grew-up in Camden, NJ back in the day when Camden was a wonderful place to raise a child. I was twelve when my mother suddenly died and my father decided we should move to Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The day after I graduated from high school, I ran away from home and ended up in Lexington, Massachusetts where I ran head first into reality. I had no money and no marketable skills still I needed to support myself. I was fortunate to find work with a reputable company, at minimum wage, and knew I needed some training to get ahead so I continually applied to Northeastern University until I was finally accepted.

During the next four years a few of my stories received accolades, still I had to put my dreams of writing the "Great American Novel" away in lieu of earning a paycheck. After four years of beating my head against the wall trying to support myself and go to school, I returned to Philly where I met my first husband. The day after our wedding, we moved to the Washington, DC area. We had a daughter and called it quits after 14 years of marriage.

After our divorce, I went back to school at George Mason University and joined my sister Angela in her publishing company. Once again, my creativity was unleashed and I designed, and produced books, teaching guides, project proposals, reports, and sales materials for clients like the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority, the American Bankers Association and the Transportation Research Board.

After many years of financial success in publishing, my sister decided it was time to follow her dream. She purchased an eighteenth century plantation house in the foothills of the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains. She, her husband and I restored the manor house and dependencies and created a small boutique hotel with a full service restaurant. We never considered the fact that we knew absolutely nothing about how to run this type of business. As it turned out that was a huge mistake. The Inn was extremely labor-intensive with the smallest profit margin imaginable and many problems ensued. We eventually parted and I move to Florida where I accepted a position as GM for a Holiday Inn.

While at the Holiday Inn I met and married my second husband who, after eight years of marital bliss, died shortly before I retired. Two years later, I retired and my sister decided to sell the Inn. She and I bought a house in Daytona Beach. My sister, a disciplined author, was busy most days writing several of her six cookbooks and for lack of something better to do I created, managed and maintained a political website where I vented my opinions about the state of our nation. After I took down my website, I found I had an enormous amount of time on my hands. My sister urged me to write, and my computer kept beckoning to me so I did and The Tattered Black Book was born.

Presently I live in Daytona Beach, FL with my spouse, two dogs, two cats, and two tanks of fish. I am a Florida white-hair loving retirement and excited that I have rekindled my passion for writing fiction.

Twitter : @lexy_duck