For me 2018 has seen the end of several things. My faithful “Bronx Buggy,” a 2004 Honda CRV died. It’s been ferrying me back and forth to work during a dramatic changes in my career–a new position in a new specialty. My kids were in booster and car seats when we bought it, and the future full of possibilities. I had not started writing fiction yet–that began in 2005 when I was inspired by the collision of real life and a media event.  I wrote feverishly: five novels (three published), ten short stories (seven published), and a memoir (multiple excerpts published), a pattern that would continue until 2017.

During that time I escaped from the misery of the job I left, the stress of my doctoral program, and health challenges to write and publish fiction and creative non fiction. I made dozens of like minded friends from online writing and…