I had always had a fascination with crochet, particularly granny squares, but thought there was some magic involved with making them that was beyond me. My affair with crochet began in Las Vegas.

It took a little longer than I'd expected, but BLUE SCHWARTZ AND NEFERTITI'S NECKLACE was published in 2006. My short romantic and mystery fiction appeared in Woman's World, and Futures magazine.įrom time I was a thirteen-year-old babysitter cooking for the kids I babysat, I dreamed of writing a book about babysitting. I wrote essays and small pieces that ran in the Los Angeles Times, the Daily News and Woman's Day among others. I was lucky enough to be a stay-at-home mom and did all kinds of volunteering at my son's schools including editing and writing several newsletters. I sold one and another was a winner in a Writers' Digest contest. I tried writing screenplays and wrote three. Later I wrote proposals for video projects and television shows that went through various stages of development. I worked for a public relations firm and wrote press releases and biographies. My first job out of college was working on the newsletter of a finance company. I wrote news stories and a weekly column in my college newspaper.

My shining moments in elementary and high school always involved stories or poetry I'd written. I grew up on the south side of Chicago and in a very busy weekend, got married, graduated college and moved to Los Angeles.Īlthough my degree is in Fine Arts, all I ever wanted to be was a writer and I've been doing it in one form or another for as long as I can remember.

Hooked on Murder by Betty Hechtman