Why JAFF?
My first encounter with Pride and Prejudice at age twelve left me baffled. All these people seemed to do was pay calls and stroll to town—where was the story? It wasn’t until years later that the genius of Austen’s social commentary clicked into place. While most other classics from my youth faded like old photographs, Jane Austen’s works endured in my memory, their wit and insight lingering like a familiar melody.
Forty years in family law taught me more about human nature than any advanced degree ever could. I witnessed marriages crumble and custody battles rage, each case a testament to life’s complexity in all its messy, heartbreaking glory. The emotional weight of my work, combined with raising six children, drove me to seek solace in fiction. At first, mysteries seemed perfect—unlike real life, they promised tidy resolutions. But soon, their violence and darkness felt too reminiscent of the battles I faced in the courtroom.
Then, in 2003, tucked away in the public library’s stacks, I discovered An Assembly Such as This. That chance encounter sparked an obsession that has kept me up at night ever since. As COVID banished us from courtrooms, I finally dared to cross the line from reader to writer. The journey has been halting, filled with self-doubt, but the stories demanded their due. They refused to stay silent.
My years in family law taught me that love stories are about character revealed in crisis, and I’ve witnessed enough crises to fill a library. Those moments—raw, tender, and often heartbreaking—became the clay from which I mold my fictional worlds. Every case file held a hundred possible stories, universal and timeless, waiting to be told.
Spinning life into something new, something that speaks to the messy, beautiful truth of human connection, inspires me. The stories may begin as wisps, fragile and fleeting, but they anchor me to this second act of life, where I’m finally writing the narratives I’ve longed to tell. In this act, I’ve found not just escape, but purpose—a way to weave the threads of my experiences into tales that resonate with the enduring complexities of the human heart.
