I am one of the luckiest women in the world. I have achieved my life's dream of writing funny, upbeat books. I get to work in an empty bedroom where I can see my son step off the school bus and watch for the UPS truck before my big hairy dog can attack its tires. I am mother to a teenager daughter who is also my best friend. And I have a gorgeous, handsome husband who makes maple syrup when he's not being a lawyer.

But life hasn't always been this good.

I grew up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a now defunct steel town on the Jersey border listening to Peter Frampton (Alive and Shirtless!) and Styx (best...band...ever) and waiting for Bruce Springsteen to pull his bike up to my back door. (Bruce. Call me.)

After graduating from Tufts University where for some reason I majored in International Relations, I pursued a career as a newspaper reporter for twenty years. I had no business being a newspaper reporter. I'm awful with facts and half the time I was thinking what it would be like to go out with the person I was interviewing instead of coming up with pithy questions. I blame it all on my undying love of Mary Tyler Moore.

My first "book" was Barbie Unbound: A Parody of the Barbie Obsession written shortly after we moved to Vermont when I was deep in postpartum depression. Surrounded by politically correct Vermont mothers who were appalled that I allowed my own daughter to play with Barbie, I finally tackled this Barbie vs. The Feminists issue head on by placing Barbie in forty historical and contemporary feminist roles.

As no one else would touch it, Barbie Unbound was published by a Vermont feminist/lesbian press and immediately became a cult hit. I also understand it was, briefly, one of the most frequently shoplifted books in America. I find this deeply touching.

Barbie led to Bubbles Yablonsky, a hairdresser/sleuth featured in six humorous mysteries I wrote for Dutton and NAL. Bubbles Unbound won an Agatha Award and Romantic Times Award for Best First Mystery and the television rights were sold to Oxygen. It was followed by Bubbles in Trouble, Bubbles Ablaze, Bubbles Abroad, Bubbles Betrothed and Bubbles All the Way.

The Bubbles books are published in England, France, Germany, Thailand and Japan. They are also very popular in Australia. All I can think is they must have nothing better to do down there.

I'm often asked if there will be more Bubbles books. I suppose the answer is, we'll see.

For now, though, I'm having a gas writing stand alone novels about women's lives, about being overweight or stuck in limbo waiting for life to start or being ugly in a society that puts a premium on physical appearance. Currently I'm working on three more books for Dutton after The Sleeping Beauty Proposal, which comes out June 21, 2007.

Please feel free to write me at writesarah@aol.com. I love hearing from readers, that is when they're nice and have wonderfully glowing things to say.

Finally, thank you for reading (and buying!) my books. My goal is to make each one better than the last so I hope you'll keep coming back for more.