Today is my birthday. I am 58 years old. I am not shy about my age, because I feel like I have earned the right to claim every one of those years. I am married to a scientist called Robert Carlton, and I have two grown kids, four grown step-kids, six grandkids (so far), a dog, three cats (one of whom is 23 years old) and as many gardens as it is possible to cram into one acre. The rose at the top of this page is from one of them. My latest professsion, besides taking care of all of the above, is Novelist. I’ve recently finished my second book, which took me six years to complete, but my excuse is that it is really three books.I left the pharmaceutical industry about ten years ago and decided to use my severence to finance a writing sabbatical and try my hand at fiction. Now I’m hooked. I haven’t decided yet on the subject of my next book. I have a couple of ideas rattling around in the back of my head though.