For most of my working life I have written for my living, both as an employee in corporate public relations and communications departments, or on my own as a consultant or editor/writer for some small publishing concerns. Once I started writing fiction seriously, I started with short stories, entered them in competitions, and took a few first places after a while – very encouraging! But it took me about eight years to get to the point where I could embark on writing a novel like “J”. I actually had written three “practice” novels before that (one of them might be good), but this was the first one I really was exceptionally passionate about, and felt compelled to write. I had the same feeling, and even more, about the Singer Sargent novel I finished at the end of 2009 (see my regular website www.maryfburns.com for more info on that one).

I live in San Francisco with my husband Stu, and when I’m not actively working on a novel, I take stained glass window-making classes, piano lessons, and serve as a lector and acolyte at St. Ignatius Church on the campus of the University of San Francisco.