I was born to a family of gypsies of the tribe known as the IBMers, intrepid wizards who roamed the countryside stuffing zeros and ones into metal boxes they knew would one day change the world.
I loved life with my tribe, but moving with the caravan every few months complicated the difficult business of making friends. Each relocation meant leaving behind the friends I’d just made … but the friends I made in books went with me no matter where the caravan roamed.
In the evenings, Papa and I spent many happy hours around the campfire. There I learned to play the card game Authors as he related the wonders of a girl with Eight Cousins, the tragedy of The Last of the Mohicans, and the oddities of The House of Seven Gables. Through the game, I came to the stunning realization that ordinary people could invent friends on paper and then share them with others. In that moment, I vowed that I would one day be an author. And I am.
I still dream of sending my characters out to roam the world befriending others, just as I once dreamed of living in a House of Seven Gables. Which I now do, together with my own resident Knight in Shining Armor.
