In the beginning, God said, Let there be light…
Several thousand years later, after many eons of famine, pestilence, war, and police actions (that we all know were wars the government couldn’t sell us on), God the Father said, “The world needs more righteous humor and romance. Let Mary McCall be born.”
God the Son said, “Dad, it’s my turn. Let her words bring joy and inspiration to the masses. I am placing a pencil in her hand.”
God the Holy Ghost chuckled. “I’m topping both of you. I’m inspiring the invention of the internet to spread spam, email jokes, time-draining games, and otherwise confuse the masses. And in that world, all authors, including Mary, will have to promote their books. Who’s got humor now?”
Thus, on a cold December 31st four minutes before midnight in the Texas Panhandle on Reese Air Force Base near Lubbock, Mary was born to Robert Duncan McCall and Minnie Stone Fulcher McCall. Lt. McCall wiped his brow and grinned at his wife. “Thank goodness you timed that well. She’s a tax deduction for the whole year.”
After that, she cost her parents tons of money. She began with crayons on the walls, furniture and floors. Her parents saw that wasn’t good and surrounded her with tons of butcher paper. By the time she turned three, she was a reporter. She told her parent about her brother breaking the glass on the coffee table, about her younger sister painting the bathroom with shaving cream, and about her older sister ironing her hair. Her parents saw that wasn’t good and explained the difference between being a reporter and being a snitch.
Onward Mary grew until she was quite verbose. She wrote poems, book reports, research papers, satires and just about anything she could think of. Since she was using paper and pencils/pens, her parents saw this as good. Unfortunately, Mary didn’t like French. So when her high school French teacher gave her an A for paper on the Eifel Tower that she didn’t write, she took the A and kept her mouth shut. Over the years, Mary spent many hours in the confessional.
Eventually, Mary wrote for nurses, business people, hospitals, doctors, psychology professionals, spiritual people and just about anyone else who wanted to read her words. This landed her for a time in Who’s Who in Nursing and Who’s Who in Business Professionals. Everyone kept telling her that she should write fiction, because she had a storytelling flair to her non-fiction, making it easy to read.
An avid reader, she finally decided to try her hand at it. When her serial-killer who ritualistically terminated his victims according to the Passion of Christ turned into a romance, Mary decided she wasn’t going to be the author of the next Cherry Ames detective series and she would write historical romances instead.
Once she wanted to write a TV series about her dating life called, Mary Fills a Monastery, but Will & Grace came out the same year, so she decided the timing wasn’t right and got a new dog.
In addition to writing, Mary loves to read old Latin manuscripts, learn new & trivial historical facts, and sing. While she likes to sing melody, God’s humor extended to her larynx, and she’s a true contralto. She can also sing Ole’ Man River in the original key, so go figure. Her favorite music is Ambrosian and Gregorian Chant and early polyphony. Her favorite composers are Palestrina, Mozart, Fr. Fredrick Faber, Billy Joel, and Elton John. Oh, and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. She never writes a love scene without The Phantom of the Opera playing in the background. Her favorite cyber playground is the Julie Garwood Bulletin Board with like-minded wenches, and her yahoo groups at too-numerous-to-count.
Mary’s favorite author:
Simon (aka: Peter): no last name. He was a Jewish fisherman but ended up in Rome.
Mary’s professional writing memberships include:
Romance Writers of America
River City Romance Writers
Hearts through History Romance Writers
Celtic Hearts Romance Writers
Faith, Hope & Love RWA, Inc.
Electronic and Small Press Authors Network
Savvy Authors, Inc.
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