For awhile now, I've been writing bits and pieces about my life growing up in a small town in the Midwest. About Italian Pete, the town barber, who everyone said escaped the clutches of Mussolini; about summers so hot that wedding cakes melted in the basement of the church before the reception; and about chasing tornadoes and watching rain storms so powerful they created gigantic whirlpools in the ravines. To me this seemed perfectly normal, until I started talking about it with big city folk - they seemed fascinated. It occurred to me that there could be a book in here somewhere!

Thus began the more organized (and arduous) goal of actually writing a book. So I enlisted the help of my husband Rich, who thankfully is a talented writer, and who knows how to get things done. We now have the third draft complete, and are looking at publication this year!