Have you always wanted to be a writer?
No, but I always thought I could be a writer. An avid reader, I started thinking seriously about writing 20 years ago, with: “I could do that!” Like most people who believe they can write, I quickly learned that it isn’t all that easy. I started and stopped and started and stopped; five pages here, twelve pages there. Describing my early attempts as a novelist as “lackluster” would be charitable.

The first bona fide attempt began in 1999 when I wrote my first novel, In a Random World, a stock market thriller (yes, I’ve been told the title is an oxymoron) about a Wall Street firm that manipulates and creates events to reap investment gains. It required a lot of research, lots of writing (it’s a 440 page manuscript), even more rewriting and editing, and over 150 query letters to literary agents. Several agents requested sample chapters or the manuscript, but there were no takers. I’d always heard about wallpapering a bathroom with rejection letters--a kind of “gallows humor” for writers—and will admit that the thought crossed my mind.

How did you come up with the story for A Dedication?
Despite enduring the endless and sometimes mean-spirited rejection of my first book, I was determined to keep writing. Still, I struggled with ideas for another story and found myself procrastinating during my normal writing times. It reminded me of when I was a teenager and did everything but study for school. So I began imagining this teenaged boy, purportedly working on a term paper in his room, and I just started writing. It felt like I could really see this kid, that I understood him and could get inside his body. I knew what he was like, what he was thinking, and how he would react to different situations . . . and the words just flowed. I didn’t have any idea where this boy was going to take me, but I knew when he said, “Right. I was seventeen years old and basically didn’t give a shit” that I wanted to hear his story.

So the story is based upon your experiences as a teenager?
No. I confess to having been a procrastinator but I wasn’t rebellious. Certainly, there are pieces of me in every character (and that can be a tough thing to own up to!) but none of the characters in A Dedication are based upon real people.

Is that you and your father in the picture on the cover of A Dedication?
No, it was a recent photo taken in Las Vegas.

How about the places and locations you describe in Colorado? Are they real? Is there a Hideaway Lake?
Some of the places are real and some aren’t. Is there a Hideaway Lake? Hmmm, maybe you should take a hike in Eldorado Canyon and find out.

You are the president of a registered investment advisory firm —how do you find time to write?
I am the president and chief investment officer of Crescent Capital Management Company and spend virtually all normal working hours managing approximately $45 million in client portfolios. I also have three teenage children AND try to write four hours a day! So, like many struggling authors before me, I usually get up at 4 a.m. and write for a couple of hours before going to work, and then squeeze a few more hours in at night. It’s truly a labor of love.

How did you end up living in Whitefish, Montana?
Our family had a vacation cabin in Colorado so I grew up loving the mountains and in recent years began dreaming about retiring to a mountain retreat. That dream became more focused when a client and good friend told me about Whitefish. After several visits, I bought a home there in 2003.

Whitefish combines a charming small town atmosphere with a vast array of summer and winter activities. It sits at the base of Big Mountain, a world-class ski and snowboarding resort, it’s thirty minutes from Glacier National Park, and within an hour’s drive to ten fantastic golf courses. There are more than 500 lakes in the area, including Flathead Lake, the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. My house overlooks Whitefish Lake, one of the most beautiful lakes in Montana and the local playground for water sport enthusiasts.

What else can I say? For me, it’s heaven on earth.

Yes. Although I won’t go into details now, it’s a story about a middle-aged woman who comes to recognize her ability to make a difference in the world.