She doesn’t know where the time went, but Liz Flaherty swears it was only last week that she married her boyfriend-just-home-from-Vietnam.  Duane wore a blue blazer and gray slacks with bell bottoms and she wore a blue dress, size five, that ended so far above her knees she’s not sure it was legal.  He had all his hair and hers was its natural color and they were going to have three children and live happily ever after.

And so they did.

Of course, there’s more to it than that.  The three children have all married and presented their parents with six grandchildren.  Liz has worked at the post office since Ben Franklin was the postmaster—or at least it seems that way—and she’s always written.  She’s one of those who can’t not write.  There are stories hidden in her computer keyboards, and she just has the most fun dragging them out word by word.

When the words are being stubborn, Liz enjoys sewing and cooking--as long as someone else cleans up.  She loves to walk the country roads where she lives, but if the wind is blowing or the mercury dips much below the 40-degree mark, she finds or invents an urgent reason to stay inside.

She and Duane live in the same farmhouse at the end of lane where they’ve lived for 30 years.  They are owned by the aforementioned grandchildren and two longhaired cats named Gabe and Jessy.

Okay, there it is, the official scoop on me.  It’ll be in the front of my new book, The Debutante’s Second Chance.  If you haven’t ordered it yet, go right ahead.  I’ll wait here.  While I’m waiting, I’ll let you in on a little more about me.  You know, a previously unpublished peek into my secret life.

(1)  I lied.   There’s no secret life.  Sigh.

(2)  I mentioned that I like to sew, and I do, but the truth is that if the writing’s going well, I can’t sew, and if the sewing’s going well, I can’t write.  I seem to be a person of limited abilities.

(3)  I hate television, but I’m as addicted to “The West Wing” as my mom used to be to her “stories” in the afternoon.  Anyone else remember “The Secret Storm” and “The Edge of Night?”

(4)  I love ice cream, but I’ve been on a diet for most of my life, so even though I eat lots of ice cream anyway, I lie about it.

(5) Same goes with what the rest of the world calls chili or Coney dogs and Hoosiers refer to as Spanish hot dogs. After two, they make me sick to my stomach, so I’ll go ahead and eat three. And lie about it.

Now you know the real me, and even though I’m not particularly exciting, entering into a new career at...uh...my age is exciting, so come on along for the ride.