Alice can't recall a time when she didn't consider herself, one way or another, a writer. First it was a family newspaper, then journals, poetry, and short stories. She even wrote a play at age ten and semicoerced neighborhood children into acting it out for their parents (25 cents admission!). Writing was always a way of filtering life, and came as naturally as talking.
Alice spent her early adult years raising a family, mostly on a small sailboat--a feat that helped develop insights that would later come in handy as a novelist. During these years she wrote short stories, the first of which sold in 1982. This was the "beginning" she thought, not realizing it would take another year to sell story number two.
In 1990, after writing over two dozen short stories, Alice decided to try her hand at writing a novel. This was intimidating as she was mostly self-taught, but what she may have lacked in formal training, she made up for in motivation and determination.
Alice wanted to write a romance, but one with a soul, with real people taking care of each other. The book sold, as did eighteen others, primarily mysteries and romance, to a small publishing house. Writing as many as five books a year, the work was strenuous but fulfilling and provided a wealth of experience.
In 1996, in order to reach a larger audience, Alice submitted and sold to Harlequin. The book Going to the Chapel was inspired by the numerous wedding chapels she noticed while visiting Lake Tahoe, Nevada. While plotting this book, she discovered that a character involved in an interesting career he or she just hates could be humorous.
In all her books Alice strives to combinehumor and heart. Being part of a great family helps this along. Her son, Joseph, serves in the United States Army; her daughter, Jennifer, is raising two children on one income. She also has the love of a good man and the complete adoration/disdain of a yellow lab and three cats. They keep her humble and find their way into many of her novels.
Alice dearly loves to receive, and faithfully responds to, reader mail. You can reach her at [email protected], or for those of you still addicted to paper and ink, at P.O. Box 755, Brownsville, OR, 97327. A SASE is greatly appreciated.
