MitgliedMaraPurl

Lots of readers ask me where I write, and I answer – any and everywhere! But one of my favorite spots is my library. And I consider all libraries to be “my” library. The New York Public Library and the Library of Congress are two places where I’ve spent many wonderful hours. And I make a habit of packing up my laptop and heading off to my local community libraries in either Studio City (Los Angeles) or downtown Colorado Springs. Another favorite spot is the library at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs where I was guest professor. On the one hand to have such vast resources available and to be surrounded by so much carefully wrought prose in print is reassuring and uplifting. On the other hand I find these spaces to be sanctuaries where the idea of quiet study is respected. It makes a great contrast to the days I feel drawn to write in a noisy café or at L.A.’s Farmer’s Market.

One more library story to share. I was researching the play I co-wrote with Sydney Swire, Mary Shelley: In Her Own Words. As the title indicates, we were using only Shelley’s own words, which meant our play was a work of scholarship before it could become a work for theatre. When I found out the British Museum has a library of unpublished papers, and that one needed permission to enter, I applied. Delighted when they said yes, I flew to London and entered the hallowed halls. I was assigned a carroll and waited while a librarian brought out a folio of Mary’s letters. There I sat, touching her actual correspondence. Imagine! And in one of her letters I found a short poem she’d written upon the death of her beloved husband. Well, that became the finale of our play, and the play went on to win an award. It was the most amazing library moment ever . . . so far!

Writing is my passion; story is the lens through which I look at life. My favorite place is California's lesser-known Central Coast, and that's where I placed my fictitious town, Milford-Haven. There my characters' lives are uncannily close to reality - ambitions, loves and dreams against a background of economic development, environmental protection and California's most spectacular scenery. Mystery? Yes. Murder? ...Yes. Romance? Oh, yes! Full of small town simplicities and global complexities.

Milford-Haven got started as a radio drama that was first aired on BBC radio. Why did I create a radio drama? The idea came to me after spending a summer performing in the special little town of Cambria, California, and sprang to life while I was performing every day in the soap opera "Days Of Our Lives." I found serial drama, the long form of story telling, to be a fascinating way to explore character and life. Milford-Haven has one hundred episodes. The fiction series will have twelve novels (the first five are published) and various short story collections.

Other writing includes non-fiction -- I co-wrote an award-winning book "Act Right" with Erin Gray; journalism -- I wrote for Rolling Stone, the Financial Times of London, the Associated Press, among others; scripts -- for film, for television, for radio; essays, ad copy, poetry and even songs.