Here's a little about me and my unexpected route to finding my passion as a painter and writer.
Art was my first love as a child, and I was encouraged through school and university by parents and teachers, but I turned to writing as a more practical way to live in this world. Somehow, probably because I grew up in a family of foodies, I made my writing career all about food. My training in the food world: Executive chef for a southern California restaurant, owner of a nationally known cooking school in the Bay Area, author of nine cookbooks (one won the Julia Child/IACP award), a weekly syndicated food column for twelve years for the Los Angeles Times, and lots of good eating, of course.
Food and food journalism was a satisfying career but I still had creative yearnings--and I wanted to get back to art. Age fifty brought me a serious bout with cancer (completely recovered now!) and during recovery I finally returned to painting. My writing took a big turn too: I quit my food journalism career and returned to graduate school for an MFA in fiction! Six more books followed, including Qualities of Light, a YA queer novel which was nominated for PEN/Faulkner and Lambda Literary awards, and the Kirkus "Best of 2024" novel, Last Bets.
I find peace with the two very diverse art forms by season: In summer I paint, mostly outside (en plein air) and in winter I write. My paintings have traveled the world to private, university, and corporate collections. My essays, short stories, and articles are in magazines and literary journals.
To pay forward some of what I’ve generously received from my art and writing teachers and my writing students, I began a weekly award-winning newsletter which has subscribers around the world. In it, I share book-structuring tips, writing insights, and interviews with published writers. I also have a YouTube channel with over 200,000 views that offers tutorials on book-structuring techniques.
I love to paint wherever we travel, my spouse of many years and our two long-haired miniature dachshunds along for the ride.
