I went to work for Price Waterhouse, which was a Very Large Deal, and hated my job. In fact, I always hated accounting. But they kept paying me more money and I was enough of a ho for dollars, so I stayed on. Then I got pregnant (that sex thing will do that to you), and left the big times for a smaller CPA firm, where I learned all about filing taxes and dealing with the IRS. I believe my oldest child is permanently scarred from the experience – she came out of the womb asking for a copy of the Federal Tax Code. Baby Number Two followed a couple of years later and I decided to quit work, to stay home and write the romance novel I’d always dreamed of writing. Too bad the price of oil went to hell – did I mention my husband is in the oil business? Before you throw tomatoes, we aren’t rich, our life is nothing like what the movies and television make it out to be, and I’m a dues paying member of the Wilderness Society. But I digress. The price of oil went south, we took several pay cuts, and my dream of staying home dissolved quicker than a handful of quarters in Vegas.

So I put the babies in day care and plugged along. Finally, along about the early nineties, I went out on my own, that is, opened a tax practice. While I filed taxes for rich people and wrangled with the IRS, I penned passionate love stories. Regrettably, no one was interested in buying them. Oh, I had some successes – finaled in some contests, landed an agent, had some interest. But I never quite got there. Then the agent went out of business – not my fault, I swear – and I was beginning to wonder if I’d been kidding myself that I could write a publishable book.

A writing friend kept saying I should write a book about a kick-ass CPA. I laughed my – ahem – off. Everyone thinks CPAs are dull and boring – and they’re mostly right. Who would want to read about one in a novel? Then all the Huge Corporate Scandals happened. And I started to think…..

And here I am now, with a series of books about a CPA who chases down the bad guys by following the money. They’re funny, and mysterious, and man, oh man, were these books fun to write. I think you’ll like Pink and her adventures, but if you don’t, just remember, I have friends at the IRS. Mwahahahaha!

The irony that my dream of being published was made possible because of my accounting background is not lost on me. My mom is a CPA, and she can’t understand why I’d want to write stories, instead of preparing taxes. Mom loves the CPA gig. Her sister, my Aunt Glenda, is also into preparing taxes, but she does understand why I love to write because she loves to read. Aunt Glenda has been tremendously supportive of me all along. Not that Mom isn’t supportive. She just wonders if I was switched at birth.

Mom and I at the Fort Worth zoo, 100 years ago
	Aunt Glenda and Mom, the inspiration for Aunt Fred and Mom in The Pink Series.

The Catman, aka Louie,

aka Kitty

Pink Pearl History:
When I was a little girl, the boy next door had a severe speech impediment and was unable to say Stephanie. Mom, being of the old school when it comes to boys and girls, frequently dressed me in pink. So the boy next door always called me Pink.

Also, I had a little doll whose name was Poor Pitiful Pearl. She was a homely doll, but I loved her. Whenever I pouted (I’m sure this was a very infrequent occurrence since I was a model child), Mom told me to stop being Pitiful Pearl. Somewhere along the way, she dropped the Pitiful and started calling me Pearl. She addresses notes to me as ‘Pearl’. She calls me Pearl when we’re out in public. My nickname, to Mom at least, is Pearl. I call her Mother of Pearl. I don’t want to offend anyone named Pearl, but honestly, it’s downright embarrassing. People think my name is Pearl – and if I was seventy, that might not be so bad. I’m only 29, plus a few years, so Pearl is, uh, well, not such a great name for me. Nevertheless, Mom calls me Pearl.

Then there’s Pink Pearl erasers. Being an accountant, I am an expert on erasers. And pencils, and calculators and column paper. When I started this book, I wanted the heroine to have a memorable name. Pink Pearl was just so obvious – so if anyone thinks it’s hokey and corny and stupid, you’re probably right. But it fits the character, I think you’ll agree. Go Pink!