I was raised by loving parents who taught me to believe that I could fulfill my dream of having a successful career, a happy marriage, and a wonderful family. When my dream was shattered by divorce, I realized there were a lot of other women out there who suffered the same experience. That’s when I decided to write Unliving the Dream. I wanted to share the challenges of divorce that require humor and resiliency to bounce back bigger and better than ever! My hope is to inspire women to realize that divorce is not the end - that if you let it, it can be a great new beginning.

 

I grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago the second of four sisters. It was an idyllic childhood that led me to the halls of Southern Illinois University where I studied English Literature while also being a member of the Famous Writer’s School of Westport, Connecticut. I married my college sweetheart and went to work for IBM in Chicago. After I was transferred to Portland, Oregon, we started our family and I made the decision to stay home and raise my daughter and son.

 

Ten years later, my husband and I founded a business that became an instant success. Within a couple of years that success got in the way of our marriage and I found myself divorced and single parenting at the age of thirty-nine. Later, when my kids went off to college, I sold my half of the business and thought about my youthful dreams of becoming a writer.

 

As a long-time admirer of Shirley MacLaine’s early books and her search for spiritual growth, I envied her adventurous and worldly quest to know more. As a result of her memoire Out on a Limb, I set my sights on Peru to experience the promise of personal growth. It was after doing volunteer work there that I came home and started my novel.

 

I am a blogger for the Huffington Post, a devoted mother and grandmother, and a better than average gal pal to some very awesome women. Whether I’m traveling the world with friends, binge watching reality TV, or writing my next article, I’m a woman who is grateful for both the good and bad that life has brought me.

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