A few things about myself, in no particular order:
I am addicted to Moleskine notebooks, the 5 x 7 size with soft covers. I buy the unlined ones. I love the freedom that comes with scribbling ideas onto a totally blank page.
I returned to school when my youngest started first grade, enrolling in the local community college because I had a poor track record of finishing things and only needed 16 additional credits for an AA. I loved the whole experience of being an adult student and went on to earn a BA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing from George Mason University.
I wrote my first book when I was in 4th grade. I wanted to submit it to Macmillan because they’d published Little Women, which I read in the 4th grade as well. We didn’t own a typewriter, but my mother’s friend did. She typed up my story and a cover letter to go with it in which she insisted I reveal I was a ten-year-old. I’m sure the editor would have figured that out anyway, but months later when I heard from Macmillan, I felt certain the only reason the book had been rejected was because of my age.
I taught Creative Writing and Freshman English Composition for a few semesters at the same community college I’d attended years earlier before taking a job in real estate, my first step in an unplanned career path. I wrote an essay about this decision, but the whole Accidental Realtor story has yet to be written.
A native New Yorker, I was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Yonkers. My husband and I rented a duplex in an old Victorian house in Mt. Vernon for a few years until we bought a smaller house in Yorktown Heights in pursuit of adulthood. We’ve also lived in Belle Mead, a sleepy New Jersey town 5 miles from Princeton, and currently reside in Centreville, Virginia, 40 minutes or so from Washington D.C., depending on traffic.
Speaking of my husband, I met him in high school and here we are after all these years, still happily married. We raised three children along the way. He loves everything I write and I love him for that and a gazillion other reasons too.
I can be reached at duffywriter24 (at) gmail.com