Where are you from? Where do you live now?
Although I wasn’t born there, my family moved to Eastern North Carolina (specifically the Inner Banks, although I’m enough of an old-timer to eschew use of that name most of the time) when I was three and I grew up there. Some of my family still lives in the area.
I was twenty-three when I moved to Clayton, and twenty-six when I moved into Raleigh proper. While growing up, I’d spent a couple years at school in Durham, but it wasn’t until this move that Raleigh became an adopted hometown. I lived in the Triangle for eight years total, and it was while living there that I first began to publish my fan fiction online.
In my early thirties, a shift in family dynamics meant that I was no longer able to stay in Raleigh. I picked three urban areas — Atlanta, Charlotte, and D.C. — and applied for jobs in all of them. The first job offer came from a firm in Atlanta, which is where I ended up going.
After living for three years in Downtown Atlanta, I moved to Gwinnett County to follow another job opportunity. As of this writing, I’m still here and, in fact, I’ve now actually lived in Georgia for the majority of my adult life. It’s a nice enough area, but it has never felt like “home” the way North Carolina did (and still does).
I’m lucky enough to be married to someone else from North Carolina and who feels the same way. But his children are here, so it’s unclear when, or even whether, we will move back. Our next planned move will be to Hall County so that we can be closer to our parish. That’s expected to happen sometime in the next year or two.
Do you have a family? Any pets?
I’ve been married to author Michael Ferrara (who also uses a pen name) since 2019. It’s the second marriage for both of us, and we were both in our mid-forties at the time. So, while we were definitely open to the idea of having children together, we knew that it might not happen — and it didn’t. (His children are from prior relationships; I am childless.)
We are currently owned by an opinionated and communicative rescue tortie. She’s closer to Michael than she is to me, as when she came to our household I already had another cat. That cat has since gone to the rainbow bridge, although I still miss her. We likely will adopt another pair after the current one also goes to the bridge. At the moment our current cat is a bit too old to adjust to a new cat herself.
What do you do in your spare time?
What spare time? I’m usually busy working, writing, or doing something associated with my parish! Not to mention that I’m also in the process of going back to school.
I do have some hobbies, though. The most significant of them is photography, which I have intentionally kept as a hobby rather than trying to “monetize” it. I completed most, but not all, of the photography certificate previously available through Emory Continuing Education, and that was when I realized that, for me, it’s better kept as a hobby.
For various reasons involving family dynamics, I haven’t been able to do much photography lately, but we’ve agreed that I’m going to try and add that back in to my life in the next year or so. If nothing else, I have a tendency to walk more and even go hiking when it’s combined with a taking pictures, so it can’t be anything except a benefit.
I’ve also read for pleasure for nearly all of my life (my mother was a teacher and taught me how to read, well before I started school). Writers do better when they themselves are readers, but I don’t particularly prefer any one genre or author over another. At least not for reading, anyway. Chances are that I’m reading whatever most recently struck my fancy.
Finally, I like to do needlework; specifically, cross-stitch and weaving. In addition, I’m starting to learn how to crochet and I’m trying to re-start knowing how to sew. This, too, isn’t anything I do that often, but there are places I can slide it into my life and where I think it would be a good idea.