Not likely! On the subject of food, I'm one of those people who keeps hoping that sometime, somewhere, someone will invent a new something that can be added to the food groups.

I love movies, Starbucks coffee, the sound of silence, peanut butter and a good laugh. I don't like crowds, noise, really cold days, or spam email.

My Real Writing Life...

I love to write. There is nothing more enjoyable than sitting down at my computer and tapping away at the keyboard. It's my fantasy life coming alive on the page. I get to do whatever I want with my characters, have them say whatever I want them to say...all those things I wished I'd been clever enough to say in real life.

My Secret Life...

In my secret life, I'm writing a handbook on pain for all those people out there who suffer from chronic pain and their loved ones who try to help them. Having lived with chronic pain for years, I can identify with anyone who has found their lives interrupted over pain they can't control, and a lifestyle that's virtually disappeared behind all the changes needed to live with pain. I'm searching for an agent at the moment which means I have to come out of hiding and get the proposal away to someone who handles self-help books. By the way, here's a factoid I'll bet you didn't know. Finding an agent in this world of ours is like finding black socks on a black rug in the dark. You know they're out there...somewhere.

My Secret Talent...

Confession time is here. I don't have a secret talent. If I had a secret talent I'd have declared it long ago...mostly because I can't keep a secret.

If I dug around long enough, I might find something that would pass as a talent, but not a secret. Okay so I've never been one who goes around espousing the belief that rose-colored glasses are the answer. But let's face it, we can spend all our time concentrating on what's going wrong in our lives, hiding away from the reality of who we are and what we need. But that's no life, that's an excuse for no life.

I believe that to be happy, each of us must search out the positive in whatever is going on in our lives. I'm aware that it's sometimes easier to hide somewhere and wait for life's problems to pass us by. But eventually we have to face them.

We often think we can't do anymore, or we can't deal with this latest problem, but denial won't make it go away, nor is it a guarantee that things will stay as they are...either way. My advice? We can either make the best of what we have in our lives, or we take a pass. The best parts of life come from facing a situation seldom of our making, but facing it in a way that makes it truly ours to convert into a positive experience. No one said it was easy, but that doesn't mean it can't be interesting.