I survived five foster homes to build a life for myself. Despite my emotionally corrosive early life, I managed to gain my creative footing. In high school, I edited an award-winning literary magazine. In college, I aced my creative writing courses. As an advertising copywriter, my TV, radio and print ads helped sell billions of dollars-worth of goods and services, winning numerous awards along the way. I married young, and we raised two daughters, and managed to stay married despite the ups and downs of my advertising career and my early struggles to write fiction. These days, I’m pretty happy with the books I’ve written in several different genres, and continue working on more.