About Me

Not long after I became a stewardess (TWA) and moved to New York, I got involved in the entertainment industry. I was 21 and single, and a cute guy on one of my flights told me he was a photographer and asked if he could do a photo shoot with me.

Hey, it was a good line (and he was cute—and he could actually string two sentences together). But all that came of the encounter was my very own modeling portfolio and a few assignments (for face and hair print jobs and one TV commercial, since I’m not tall enough to do fashion). About the same time, I became a published author when two of my short stories appeared in Teen Magazine.

Not long after that, I married Anthony (Sonny Boy) Giordano from Coney Island, left TWA and had my daughter Rachel. By the time she was two, I was running my own modeling agency from home. Freaks Unlimited represented character actors and models, which is how I met Herve Villechaize who would go on to Fantasy Island fame.

It was a struggle, but Freaks was just taking off when I was notified that due to a class action lawsuit, I could have my stewardess job back if I wanted it. My marriage was over by then and I figured it would be a great part-time job for a single mom. The best thing that came out of that decision was my first book, The Sky’s The Limit.

The other best thing was meeting Herman Rush on a flight. He is a true and honorable gentleman and he became my friend and mentor. He introduced me to my film and TV agent (Marty Shapiro) and later, when I moved to Los Angeles, Herman gave me a great referral that led to my becoming a publicist for Columbia Pictures Television. 

While writing press releases at CPT, I had the good fortune to arrange publicity for stars like Ricardo Montalban, Hugh O’Brien, Richard Anderson, Peter Lawford, Philece Sampler, Gregg Marx, Wings Hauser, Doug Davidson, Dennis Cole and David Hasselhoff. I got the opportunity to write scripts for Fantasy Island, and later even did a few for Days Of Our Lives. One day I went to see DOOL producer Ken Corday and pitched him my Dell book, Rituals. Ken turned it into the first ever made-for-syndication soap opera and it ran five nights a week for a year.

By this time, my daughter was 16. Because my career was so hectic with the success of Rituals, Rachel went to boarding school during the week and came home on weekends. One day, she brought my other daughter home with her. Kristin was estranged from her own family (through no fault of her own) so we just kept her and made her part of our family. Thanks to Rachel, I am the proud grandmother of Sarah and Ally and thanks to Kristen, I am the proud grandmother of Ollie.

After a few more years doing the Hollywood shuffle, I high-tailed it back to New York and went back into publishing. The most memorable experience was working as Convention Coordinator for Romantic Times—and I will treasure those memories forever. After the San Diego convention (for which I co-produced the first ever Mr. Romance Cover Model Pageant), I took a job as managing editor of Playgirl.

After a year there, I started my own magazine, I’ll Take Romance! We actually produced three issues before my Russian partner “mis-spent” the money from our backers and it went belly up. Completely broke and on the verge of being homeless, I fell in love with Peggy Webb’s book, Where Dolphins Go. Peggy trusted me with and adapting it into a screenplay saved my sanity during those dark days when I was doing a survival gig as a telemarketer. I learned that I had a passion and a talent for adapting books into screenplays. God was good and I got a job as editor of For The Bride, followed by another stint at Playgirl and then on to the Starlog Group, where I was editor of Spice (a music fanzine) and managing editor of Belle and Black Elegance.

Next, I launched my e-publishing venture, TantalizingTales.com. I got the thrill of a lifetime when I was able to recover the rights to all my books. Before I released them as ebooks, I completely rewrote every single one. Early in my career I was blessed (or cursed) because my first publisher took the novels I churned out at lightning speed and threw them out on the shelves without giving them a glance. I have often wished that he’d allowed me to work with an editor so I could learn, and so I could make them what they should have been. Some 30 years after their publication, it was a thrill for me to be able to fix them, even at this late date. You can see them all (with lovely new covers) at TantalizingTales.com.

Eventually I moved to south Florida where I worked for a while as editor of The Parklander, a local community magazine. Currently, I’m headwriter for Animus Entertainment Group in Miami, and I’m loving every minute of it. What a punch line—I had to leave Hollywood to get a job as headwriter in television!

All in all, it has been a great ride. Someone once asked me what it would take to get me to stop writing. I thought about it and realized there is only one answer: When they pry the pen (or keyboard) from my cold, dead hands… Thanks for stopping by. Please take a few minutes to wander around my site and share in my excellent adventures.