Linda Merlino

Life is our daily teacher. One lesson begets another and then another. Once-upon-a-time life kicked me off my writer's path and led me to pursue a more practical profession. My childhood dream of becoming a journalist was silenced. Years later, I became a single parent, not by choice but by necessity, and my most trustworthy partner became a ballpoint. The fiction in my head turned into words on yellow legal pad. I wrote anywhere, any time, on my dining room table, and on my lunch hour. No place was my sacred space. I wrote in my car during soccer practices, under an umbrella on rain drenched sidelines, in fast food restaurants and in chain hotels. I wrote during championship after championship in cities and states, from Jersey to Phoenix.
Belly of the Whale went from paper, to computer, to draft after draft and finally to Kunati.
My children are grown and my passion to write remains a constant. I dedicate my books to the magic of believing in a dream, to my son and to my daughters.