My love for reading developed early, I was reading books by the age of three. When I was five, I read four books from L. Frank Baum's OZ series gifted to me by my grandmother. I was captivated by the descriptive writing and storytelling. At that age, I knew I wanted to be a writer too. I started writing poetry and little imained stories about people I knew.  It's amazing that decades later I would work at MGM Studios where The Wizard of Oz film was produced.

This book began from posts I shared on Facebook privately with my family and friends about my scouting trip to France. They followed my daily exploits and suggested that I write a book about my fun, enlightening, and solo experience of visiting and exploring each of those six French cities.  So, I compiled those posts and added my back story to write this book. In doing so, I felt my story could be impactful and inspirational for francophiles and people who had a similar dream about living abroad.

Six French Cities is a deeply personal travel memoir about my stuggles to make this solo quest through France by train with my dog Colonel a reality. This story stems from a decades old dream to live in France. On this journey I was searching for the most ideal small French city in which to live when I retired.  After years of longing, this journey became an insightful experience of clarity, self-discovery, and a real sense of belonging. Even with my less than adequate ability to speak French, I adapted well to the French culture during that three week trip. Making me fall in love with France all over again.

Yes, this book is part of a series. When I began writing this book about my journey to attain my dream, I realized there was too much material for just one book. So, I decided to separate my two travel segments (the scouting part and then the relocation part) into a series. Six French Cities is the first book published in my French Adventure series just about scouting those six cities to find my ideal one. My second book, A Boomer in Bordeaux, is about moving to, adapting, and living in France during my first full  year of residency. This second book is planned for release in the Fall of 2026. Book three (untitled) will be about my visiting, exploring, and learning about the history and traditions of other medieval cities throughout France, which I plan to publish in the winter of 2027. 

It took me approximately ten months to compile the posts, write my back story, add more content, edit five drafts, proofread the manuscript line by line, and resolve computer issues that disrupted my pre-launch schedule. Determined to meet my deadline, which my launch date I did not want to postphone or move up by a few days or even weeks due to the technical computer issues that developed while writing this book. Luckily, I completed every element of this book and published it just two days before my January 6, 2026 launch date. 

Currently, I’m writing non-fiction narratives (two more books in this French Adventure Series). While still living in Los Angeles I had begun writing my Hollywood Memoir about how I broke into the entertainment industry without any contacts, my varied roles, the people I worked, and the high profile individuals I met duirng my long career. Additionally, I have written poetry, short fiction, blogs, self-help manuals, and essays. Waiting in the wings are outlines of several short stories and two suspenseful novel ideas that I tinker with off and on with plans to complete someday. 

I have held numerous jobs over the years due to my ability to learn my roles quickly. Often I needed constant stimulation at the work or I would become bored. I sought out new challenges and job opportunities to continue learning. Initially, my goal was to become a writer and producer. I have held many corporate administrative positions and roles as a creative coordinator, writer, and producer. I worked for a while as a Talent and Literary Agent, a Story Editor, and Story Analyst reading screenplays and manuscripts for production executives. I've worked in both TV and Film Production assisting writers, producers, directors, and studio executives at Hollywood studios for over five decades before retiring in 2024. In addition, due to my passion for travel, I owned and operated two different homebased luxury travel agencies for over two decades before closing my travel business to pursue this dream of moving to France. As a travel expert and advisor, I have traveled extensively to five Continents and visited many cities in a variety of countries.

I do an extensive amount of research when I write. Whether I am writing non-fiction or fiction, because I always want to give readers some historical facts woven into my stories.  Research like travel helps me to better understand places, people, and cultures which is invaluable for indepth travel writing.

My goal was to share with others who love France or may be thinking about relocating abroad this very intentional journey and those experiences I had while traveling through France.  Also, I felt the need to convey my reasons for taking this trip and why it mattered so much to me. I was hoping to inspire people with a similar dream to also take that big step forward. My purpose for writing this book was to illustrate that "it's never too late to pursue one's dreams no matter your age." In writing this book, I feel those goals were achieved. 

I am currently working on book two of this French Adventure Series, A Boomer in Bordeaux which continues four months after returning from my scouting trip. This story begins with me retiring, planning, and preparing to relocate to France. It shows all the work I had to do before and then after arriving France. How I lived and quickly adapted to the French lifestyle, made new friends (expats and native French), and navigated the French govenment systems during my first full year of residency in the lovely city of Bordeaux with my dog, Colonel.