I love the sound of snow crunching beneath boots, the taste of butter, and pumpkin pancakes with real maple syrup (What can I say? I was born in Syracuse, NY). Perfume isn't for me. When I'm swimming in a northern spring-fed lake, and my nose is right down near the water--that's my favorite scent in the world. The next is baking bread, which reminds me of my grandmother (I've spent every summer of my life at the same lakeside cottage, where I can still conjure her spirit). In third grade, not yet allowed homework, I smuggled my spelling book home under my coat and completed a year's worth of assignments in one weekend. My favorite memory from high school was taking "blanket walks," the blanket simply a reason to snuggle up to the best friends a teen could have (in Baltimore County, MD). Ironically, I found my voice in the wordless medium of dance, and my personal power in the way muscles contract to move a body meaningfully through space (at Miami University, OH).When the publicist for a dance performance I was in couldn't find a critic to review it, I became the critic, and wrote about dance for 19 years (The Morning Call, Allentown, PA). I have been on boards of arts organizations my entire adult life, believing that the arts are crucial to our survival as a species, and that without volunteerism, the arts world would stop spinning and we'd all fall off.My two sons and I went through hell together when my first husband committed suicide, but we are closer because of this trial-by-fire. We are now inspired to stoke the passions that make us eager to choose life each and every day. Since 2000, my passion has been writing, editing, and teaching fiction, which is well supported by my courageous husband Dave (let's face it, when it came to marriage I didn't have the best resume).Oh, resume? Is that what this was supposed to be? I thought it said manifesto...Here's the resume:Kathryn Craft is the author of THE ART OF FALLING and THE FAR END OF HAPPY, book club fiction from Sourcebooks. Her work as a developmental editor at Writing-Partner.com, specializing in storytelling structure and writing craft, follows a career as a dance critic (Morning Call, Allentown, PA). Over the past decades she has served on the boards of the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group and the Philadelphia Writers Conference and worked with the Women's Fiction Writers Association; she hosts writing retreats for women, and speaks often about writing. She is a monthly guest contributor at the popular Writers in the Storm blog. She lives with her husband in Bucks County, PA. Representation: Katie Shea Boutillier, Donald Maass Literary Agency.