ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Muriel was born and raised in the City of Atlanta. As soon as she could peck out words on the old family typewriter, Muriel decided to become a writer. In the eighth grade, she began work on her first novels--by hand, in pencil, on notebook paper. Her classmates were the characters in her stories. Fellow students she liked led a wonderful life in her stories. Anyone who annoyed her had bad things happen to them. She wrote her mystery stories in the evenings and read the newly written chapters aloud outside of homeroom. Her "novels" had exciting titles like Murder and Mayhem, Murder Unlimited and The Corpse That Wasn't.

After graduating from high school, Muriel attended the University of Georgia, where she majored in journalism and wrote for the student newspaper. Later, she followed her Navy husband to Chuorinkan, Japan, where she lived in a tiny house with sliding paper doors and straw floors. She pulled her shoes off at the door and slept on a futon on the floor. From Japan, Muriel moved to Bremerhaven, Germany, where she began freelancing for specialized magazines.

When her husband left the Navy, the family moved to Georgia, where Muriel began a long career in journalism. This included teaching beginning newswriting and reporting at the university, writing and editing for magazines and newspapers, working as a public relations professional and writing plays for local performing groups.

Once she retired, Muriel decided to write fiction stories for older women, who were tired of reading about twenty-
somethings looking for the right man online. Muriel’s fifty-something protagonists are struggling with their own
problems, like middle-age spread, facial wrinkles, aging parents, perimenopause, mood swings and hot flashes. Her
newest book, Not Myself Today, is a switch from her usual women’s fiction genre. This young adult paranormal thriller is a dark body-switching story. It’s Freaky Friday meets Stephen King with a unique twist.

Muriel has received a number of regional awards for her writing, including the South Carolina Writers Workshop Carrie
McCray Memorial Literary Award, the SWA Hal Bernard Memorial Award for Novel, the SWA Vega Award for Speculative
Short Fiction, the SWA Cappy Award for Humor, and several Regional CASE Awards for feature writing. She is a member
of the Southeastern Writers Association, Women’s Fiction Writers Association, the Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators, the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation, and a local writers critique group.

In addition to writing, Muriel loves art, likes to travel, and reads lots of fiction. She and her husband are both card-
carrying Disney-holics, who have visited Disney parks in California, Florida, Paris and Tokyo.