My favorite authors are Edith Wharton, Henry James and Margaret Atwood. I have written poetry since childhood, and only in the past three years have attempted writing books. I have two complete manuscripts, one a novel on loss, one a murder mystery intended for young adults. I love to describe nature and to play with combinations of words and phrases. I was a language major in college (Spanish) and love the way words sound. What appeals to me most when writing is designing phrases and developing sentences that convey something different and/or that convey exactly what I want to say. It is more about the poetry of the words than about character or the story. As a result, I struggle with those elements of writing. I try to avoid sounding like a poet writing prose.