Today, as a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, the International Association of Crime Writers, and Emerald Coast Writers, I can proudly report my growing list of original, comedic murder mystery scripts have been performed by fundraising and theater groups all over the United States, Canada, Australia, and England.

I moved to Northwest Florida in 2002 to live near my parents and sister, and in the process, decided to start my own production company. My first show, PEACE, LOVE... AND MURDER! was performed in the spring of 2003, and was a fundraising event for Horizons of Okaloosa County. Horizons, located in Ft. Walton Beach, is dedicated to providing services for developmentally disabled adults and children in our community. My sister is the Chief Operations Officer of Horizons, and thanks to her involvement, I became involved too. Today, Act4Murder performs regularly to raise money for several non-profit organizations, including Horizons. The effort has not gone unnoticed - in 2004, I was voted by ARC Florida as the ARC Volunteer of the year for the entire state of Florida!

With the help of my family and friends, I have found a great deal of success producing my comedic murder mysteries in the area. There is an enormous amount of talent here, and many, many great productions (visit Carol's Curtain Call for a complete listing of all local productions and auditions) going on all the time. And I've discovered, whether it's California or Florida, people love to be entertained, so the response to this alternate means of "adult entertainment" has been overwhelming.

Recently, the word "overwhelming" has taken on a new meaning in my life. In July of 2006 I was diagnosed with Leiomyosarcoma Cancer. The cancer is rare, aggressive and recurring, and had to be dealt with via surgery and radiation at the Shands Hospital in Gainesville. 5 surgeries, 6 weeks of radiation, 3 months of wound care and 2 months of hyperbaric oxygen chamber treatments have left me with a slight limp and an interesting looking leg, but I am cancer-free and finally back to my real life. And as with most cancer patients, I will be CT scanned every 3 months for a number of years to keep an eye on things, so keep your fingers crossed!

Thanks again to everyone for your continued support (and attendance!) of Act4Murder productions. I love writing these fun, sometimes whacky, and always mysterious shows, and especially enjoy the productions and the opportunity to meet so many new and interesting people. Please feel free to send me an e-mail if you'd like to chat about my shows, my cancer (encouraging stories are always welcome!) or anything else, as I go through this, my latest "adventure."

Hope to stump you... I mean, SEE you, soon!