I write novels about women facing the realities of life while also taking time out to laugh, learn, and love. My branding statement is: Women's Journeys with a Twist of Wit. My novel A Hunka Hunka Nursing Love (Soul Mate Publishing) will be released as an e-book in Summer 2013 and in print in Spring 2014.

I also write rhyming current-event tweets that can be viewed on Twitter or Facebook.

Before I started writing fiction, I was a print journalist for 24 years. I worked for daily newspapers in Rock Island, Ill., and Madison, Wis.; for a Chicago-based trade journal that covered the radio and TV industry; and as special projects editor for the Indianapolis Business Journal. I started a couple of special sections for women, one of which won two state awards, while the other won a national award.

A Hunka Hunka Nursing Love

Valerie Palka is a savvy businesswoman who is obsessed with keeping her elderly mom, Helen, safe from all the lethal disasters that can befall widows living alone. Helen thinks the workaholic Valerie should focus on having as much luck in the bedroom as she does in the boardroom. But when Helen takes a spill and is rushed to the ER, a handsome male nurse, Keith Nuber, strikes her fancy, and she tells her daughter, “If you could get a handsome devil like that to take care of me, I’d be willing to consider it.” So Valerie creates a visiting-nurse service, Home Health Hunks, staffed by attractive younger men. Valerie’s idea is filled with potential … and potholes. As she navigates the tricky road to satisfying her mom as well as her own ambition, she falls in love with one of her employees—Keith—and learns about the true meaning of success. (Soul Mate Publishing e-book coming Summer 2013, print book Spring 2014)

A Hunka Hunka Nursing Love won first place in the Women's Fiction category of the 2012 TARA (Tampa Area Romance Authors) Contest.