I'm a writer and editor in Austin, Texas. My novel The Unexpected Miss Bennet came out in 2011 from Robert Hale in the UK and from Penguin Berkley in the US. It takes up where Pride & Prejudice leaves off, specifically regarding Mary Bennet, the most misunderstood of the Bennet sisters. Mary is bookish, a bit priggish, determined to stand out for her accomplishments, and is a typical middle child. So naturally I had to write about her! I've always wondered why she was never selected by the inimitable Mr. Collins to be his bride. The Unexpected Miss Bennet is my answer to that question.My first novel, Gordath Wood, came out from Ace in the summer of 2008, and the sequel, Red Gold Bridge, in 2009. Gordath Wood is hard to categorize. It's fantasy but with only a touch of magic to it. It has romance, but is not a romance (a very different beast). It has a murder-kidnap mystery in it. Basically it has all of the elements of books I like to read. And although everybody has different tastes, I am betting that more than a few of you also like your books the same way I do -- shaken and stirred. So if you like fantasy-mystery-romance novels, this one's for you.Like most writers, I have a day job. In my case, I am a business and industry editor. During the day, I write about the mundane and yet still fascinating world of business and commerce, specifically in the financial and construction industries. At night, I switch hats and write fantasy and science fiction.How I got here:I always wanted to be a writer but never really did anything about it. It wasn't until I was let go in 1993 from my job as managing editor of a computer magazine that I decided it was time to put up or shut up. As long as I was looking for a job I could write every day for at least an hour and see where it would take me. I figured I'd be out of work for a few months at least. I would write in the morning, job hunt in the afternoon. When the unemployment ran out I'd take my daughter out of day care and be a writing in the morning, jobhunting, stay at home mom (for a while). Bliss!It lasted for two weeks. Then I got a call from a rival magazine saying, hey, we heard you need a job. So I was back to work right away, wondering what happened to my bliss, but I kept writing. Short stories, novel starts, articles, you name it. I didn't sell for another six years. In the meantime I had another child, moved to my current day job, and kept writing stories and selling them.I haven't stopped.