Birthday: August 2nd

Occupation: Teacher

City of Residence: Chiba City, Japan

Favorite Books: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas Kitchen

by Yoshimoto Banana White Teeth by Zadie Smith

1. What inspired you to write?

To be down right truthful, competition made me pick up a pen and write. Sitting on my futon on a Saturday afternoon, one of my friends said that he would write a book within the year. I thought that if he could do it, so could I.

2. Tell us a bit about BY DESIGN?

In BY DESIGN, nothing beats a quitter but a try. With a thirtieth birthday just around the corner, an interior designer has six months to complete her quest to travel around the world and find a husband of convenience. This daring plan has her interfering friends cooking up schemes to stop her from leaving and a New York sports attorney turning his Brooklyn brownstone into a home while making plans for her heart.

3. Do you have a full-time career outside of your writing?

I have been a banker, a business analyst, and a consultant. After a mild case of burnout, I decided on a career change not knowing that it would lead me halfway across the globe. At the moment, I teach English as a Second Language to Japanese Junior High School students.

Sometime in the near future I will return home and try my hand at technology training within the corporate environment.

4. When you're not writing, what do you like to do in your spare time?

Sleep… and pretend I am Ms. Fix-It. You know there is something extremely rewarding about getting caulking under your fingernails as you reseal the bathtub.

5. What is something about you that your readers would be surprised you do?

I speak, read, write and study Japanese.

6. What do you enjoy most about writing?

I love using my imagination. I might have missed the train, forgotten to pay my student loan, burnt up my frozen dinner, lost a contact lens, and added an additional dent to my car, but I can still sit down in front of my laptop. Getting lost in the world of my characters is like eating a pint of Godiva White Chocolate Raspberry ice cream without the guilt.

7. How did you gain a BET/Arabesque contract? And how did you feel when you got THE CALL?

I got the BET contract because I had an agent who believed in me even after I received the first of many polite rejection letters. It was hard work and determination as well. On the same day my bicycle was stolen and I got a mild case of food poisoning from some sushi bar, my mother called and told me that BET was going to buy my book. At that point I promptly burst into laughter.

8. How did you get started writing your novel?

I got started writing my first published novel after having lunch with fellow author, Gwynne Forster. She impressed me when she said that writing was about having discipline. The kind of iron will that gets you out of bed at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning after getting home from the club at 2:00 a.m. I made a promise that I would spend four hours every Saturday morning doing nothing but writing.

9. What process do you use in writing your novel?

First I get to know my characters, then start taking notes, asking questions. After I get a handle on their voices, I look for a premise. The premise is what the entire story is based upon; it runs through every chapter and flows from the hero or heroine. Then I work though basic plot to create a skeleton outline. By the time I sit down to write the first chapter, I have a destination and some milestones. Although the story usually changes direction I get to the finishing line.

10. How long does it take you to complete a manuscript?

It takes me anywhere from 4 months to a year.

11. What was your becoming a published writer journey like?

My personal journey was like planning and packing for a well-deserved holiday. It was the anticipation of getting on a plane, only to get to the airport and find out the flights been canceled. Each rejection letter was one more delay, but I learned that writing was more important to me than getting published. To me getting published was not only getting on the plane but winning that every coveted upgrade to Business Class.

12. Is being a published writer what you thought it would be like?

Hmm, since I am not published yet (trust me I am marking off the days) I can not describe to you what it is like. I can say that I blush when I think of my Southern Baptist Aunt sneaking into the bookstore to buy a copy of my book.

13. What do you feel has been your greatest accomplishment as a writer and why?

My greatest accomplishment was putting myself out into the public arena as a writer. I am a private person and letting people read my stories was difficult.

14. Do you like communicating with your readers? In what forms. And how can a reader contact you?