ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I am a novelist, book publicist (Book Publicity by Marlan), screenwriter, filmmaker, journalist, and certified Life Coach. "Naked Roadmaps for the Sexually Challenged: All's Not Fair in Love or War" is my first novel. It began as diary entries in '94 immediately after I left my then-husband to traverse the wilds of the Los Angeles landscape. When I saw that the entries actually made perfect chapters, I began writing drafts for a fictionalized version.

A graduate of USC Film School (Class of '90), I have been writing since I was 9 years old (like most of you who are also writers). At the age of 10, I queried Disney Studios to ask if they'd like to buy my stories about "Censar the Alien." They politely declined, on Mickey Mouse stationery no less!

BACKGROUND:

My eclectic experience includes: Co-producer/writer/editor of the documentary "Reunion" (Film Festival Official Selection: AFI, Denver, West Palm Beach, and Taiwan "Surprise" festival). "Reunion" is a funny cross-cultural look at two very different high school reunions: mine in Florida and my then-husband's in Poland. It was the official selection at the AFI, Santa Barbara, Denver, West Palm Beach and Taiwan Film Festivals.

I sold my screenplay "Midsummer Night Cowboy" to a Writers Guild Signatory (Shadow Hill Productions" right after graduation. It was put into turnaround and I still own the rights. It's a western that focuses on a cowboy outlaw who hides out with a Shakespeare troupe. The troupe is made up of immigrants.

NEW FILM

I'm currently in production for the documentary, "What did you do in the War, Mama?: Kochiyama's Crusaders" (based on my play "Bits of Paradise") about human rights activist Yuri Kochiyama as a young woman incarcerated during World War II in a U.S. concentration camp. Kochiyama was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, and as a young woman she led her fellow women into a massive campaign to boost the spirits of the Japanese American soldiers who were fighting to prove their patriotism while their families were behind held behind barbed wire because they were of Japanese heritage.

JOURNALIST:

As a journalist, I was a reporter in Kansas, Missouri and the Bay Area. I've also been a regular contributor to the online travel publication "Your Life Is a Trip" and K-Biz News "Fashion Weekly." My book news, author interviews and reviews appear on my blogs "Roadmap Girl's Book Buzz; "L.A. Now and Then;" and "Dancing in the Experience Lane" on Open Salon. I am also a reviewer for Midwest Book Reviews (Marlan's Bookshelf").

THANK YOU, KDP:

"Roadmaps for the Sexually Challenged" was originally entitled "One Divorcing Woman's Roadmap for the Karmically Challenged." It went through many drafts over the years with lots of feedback and advice from readers that ranged from "Make two books out of this materisl" to "Why are you writing this? Nobody cares."

WHAT'S NEXT:

There is a sequel that has been in the works for years: "Growth Follows the Knife." The title comes from the "Plant Wars" that ensue between dueling gardeners on an extensive piece of land that Bohemian artists live on in the unlikely neighborhood of Echo Park in L.A. Some of the characters in "Roadmaps" appear and the story continues but in a completely different theme and mood. In this book, Carrie becomes obsessed with a Japanese "sushi guy" and their mutual seduction is a tango not to be missed.

I am grateful to Amazon for thinking up this KDP program which gives authors like myself an opportunity to get the novel "out there" to whomever might be interested or resonate with the message of the book, which is simply:

Do not go Unconscious for Love.

In fact, this publishing adventure has been so much fun so far (total self-esteem rush) that I've decided to finish a memoir that I began in 2011 after learning that my college boyfriend had died of AIDS in '92. The impact he had on my life was and is significant. I have drafted chapters on a blog entitled "Rowing on a Corner." If the topic interests (Sex, Drugs and the Tao Te Ching in the early 70s at Florida State University), I hope you'll visit and leave a comment. Thank you!