GRACE DIVINE BIO
I am a survivor who believes in the inexorable power of the human spirit. I am a believer who has seen through tragedy into the eye of the setting sun knowing that the morrow can bring a new and brighter day. I am a compassionate human being who empathizes with the suffering of others and wants to be there for them. And I do this by writing transformational stories filled with characters that are imbued with passion and love.
I was born in California. When I was five, my parents divorced. Shortly after, my father abducted me. He put me in the trunk of a car where I held on to a plastic cane filled with candy as I lay spread eagle on my stomach. From Tijuana Mexico, I was flown to Torremolinos Spain where I was left in a dreary and secluded all girl catholic boarding school for several years during which time I didn't see my mother.
When I was nine, my paternal grandmother took me to Mexico City for two years. There I was exposed to the mysticism and magic of the native Indian cultures. After returning to Spain, I finally came back to the United States. I was a teenager who couldn't speak English. Happily, I saw my mother again. But sadly, six months after my return, she disappeared in a flood. Her body was never found.
I went to ten schools in three countries for the first twelve years including five high schools. During this time, I had to contend with a father whose mental illness and drug and alcohol addictions caused him to be a dangerous sadist. I was barely eighteen years old when I ran away from home because he threatened to kill me with a 38 revolver.
Within two weeks, I found a job and bought a car. I moved into the dorms at the University of California at Irvine. From there, I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics and the ability to speak six languages.
While at UCI, I met and married a medical student. My first pregnancy ended in stillbirth. Notwithstanding this and other hardships I enrolled and graduated from UCLA Law School.
We moved to Texas and while I was raising my children, I graduated from the University of Texas Dallas where I received a Masters Degree in Arts and Humanities. There I took several writing courses.
At this time, I began a career as a visual/writing artist. My artwork, mostly surrealist, is about women in contemporary society and includes extensive writings, short stories and poetry. I've had shows at women's centers and several commercial establishments. I've also taught art programs in public access television for ten years. One of my paintings is featured adjacent to a Picasso in the acclaimed documentary by the BBC: THE PRIVATE LIFE OF A MASTERPIECE: THE KISS BY GUSTAV KLIMT ICON OF THE 20TH CENTURY.
Then, after many years my husband and I grew apart and I filed for divorce. The next day I began to write. The writing was spontaneous and a year later I had a fully finished science fiction novel, APPLE TOWN, CALIFORNIA. I also drew and painted over eighty illustrations of the characters and story. When the movie agent asked me how I wrote it, I told him that I saw the images and "painted them on paper" with words.
And where do I get my inspiration? From childhood, I had a vivid imagination. Incredibly, sometimes my nighttime dreams would manifest in the physical world. Today, I've done work as an intuitive life coach and am drawn to the mysteries of the world. APPLE TOWN, CALIFORNIA comes from this inner place and includes several dream sequences that I've actually had. It is a story about facing almost insurmountable challenges and succeeding; a story of light and hope amidst utter darkness that speaks of the human's souls' capacity for incredible transformation.
GRACE DIVINE
OUR BOOK STORE
|
|
gracedivine.com
