I am a copywriter by day, a novelist by night, and a wife, mother, seamstress, painter, poet, and photographer in between. I count myself blessed to live in Michigan, where I am never more than a 90 minute drive from one of the Great Lakes or six miles from an inland lake, river, or stream. I grew up in the Bay City area waiting at drawbridges for freighters and sailboats to pass by and smelling sugar beets being processed. I spent my college and young married years in the Grand Rapids area, making the drive between Allendale and GR when gas was less than $1 a gallon. I now make my home in a little old brick house in Lansing, nestled somewhere between angry protesters on the Capitol lawn and couch-burning frat boys at nearby Michigan State University. And yet, it is really quite peaceful.