BIOGRAPHY
I have a Master's degree in marriage, family and child counseling and a Master's of Fine Arts in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. Two chapters from PATCHES won a money award for fiction from the Bronx Council on the Arts and the final chapter of PATCHES was published in The Global City Review, a literary journal. Another one of my stories, “A Daughter’s Gift” appeared in an on line publication, Reflections Edge. I am a past board member of Mystery Writers of America and presently I am a reporter for the MWA New York Tri-state newsletter, The Noose, and former chairperson of the MWA Mentor Program. I have written a food column and numerous other articles for a Bronx newspaper.

BEYOND WRITING
Several years ago I was given a digital camera and I have been hooked on taking pictures ever since. Years and years ago, in another lifetime, I had a Pentex. I loved that camera dearly, but it was stolen and I never seemed to gather up enough money to get another one. And then one day I bought a Nikon, and I was off and running again, taking pictures of anything that came across my camera lens. Though times changed for me and eventually there were too many things to take care of, what with kids, cooking, working, and husband, and the camera became too cumbersome to schlep along with diapers, snack food, and I once again stopped taking pictures. The digital camera that I now possess, a small little gizmo that fits neatly inside the palm of hand has brought me back to photography and I love it.

I always have some kind of sewing project going, too. It might be a jacket for my grandson, or a quilt for someone’s bed, but I never seem to finish one project before another one begins to loom in front of me.

Baking and cooking is something that I also enjoy doing. I fiddle with recipes making the ingredients as simple as possible because in my leisure time I really only want to do what is fun. If it’s not fun, I don’t want to do it. And if you invite me to your house for dinner and you ask me to bring a dessert you’ll get an apple pie. I can knock off one of those mean sweets in less than an hour.


CONTACT INFORMATION
To contact me please send an email to: margaret_mendel123@yahoo.com