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All She Can Be
Rita Bellamy, a best-selling romance novelist, still feels guilty about her divorce, but finds compassion in Twigg Peterson, a younger man who understands her need to be a writer
- GenresRomance
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1983
3 people are currently reading
255 people want to read
About the author
Fern Michaels
428 books6,550 followersFern Michaels isn’t a person. I’m not sure she’s an entity either since an entity is something with separate existence. Fern Michaels® is what I DO. Me, Mary Ruth Kuczkir. Growing up in Hastings, Pennsylvania, I was called Ruth. I became Mary when I entered the business world where first names were the order of the day. To this day, family and friends call me Dink, a name my father gave me when I was born because according to him I was ‘a dinky little thing’ weighing in at four and a half pounds. However, I answer to Fern since people are more comfortable with a name they can pronounce.
As they say, the past is prologue. I grew up, got a job, got married, had five kids. When my youngest went off to Kindergarten, my husband told me to get off my ass and get a job. Those were his exact words. I didn’t know how to do anything except be a wife and mother. I was also a voracious reader having cut my teeth on The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames and the like. The library was a magical place for me. It still is to this day. Rather than face the outside world with no skills, I decided to write a book. For some reason that didn’t intimidate me. As my husband said at the time, stupid is as stupid does. Guess what, I don’t have that husband any more. Guess what else! I wrote 99 books, most of them New York Times Best Sellers.
Moving right along here . . . Several years ago I left Ballantine Books, parted company with my agent, sold my house in New Jersey that I had lived in all my married life and in 1993 moved to South Carolina. I figured if I was going to go through trauma let it be all at one time. It was a breeze. The kids were all on their own at that point. The dump was a 300 year old plantation house that is listed in the National Registry that I remodeled. Today it is beyond belief as are the gardens and the equally old Angel Oaks that drip Spanish moss. Unfortunately, I could not get my ghost to relocate. This ghost has been documented by previous owners. Mary Margaret as we call her, is “a friendly”. She is also mischievous. It took me two weeks to figure out that she didn’t like my coffee cups. They would slide off the table or counter or else they’d break in the dishwasher. I bought red checkered ones. All are intact as of this writing. She moves pillows from one room to the other and she stops all the clocks in the house at 9:10 in the a.m. at least once a week. When the Azaleas are in bloom, and only then, I find blooms on my night stand. I have this glorious front porch and during the warm months I see my swing moving early in the morning when the air is still and again late in the day. She doesn’t spook the dogs. I always know when she’s around because the five of them line up and look like they’re at a tennis match. As of this writing we’re co-habiting nicely.
Most writers love what they do and I’m no exception. I love it when I get a germ of an idea and get it down on paper. I love breathing life into my characters. I love writing about women who persevere and prevail because that’s what I had to do to get to this point in time. It’s another way of saying it doesn’t matter where you’ve been, what matters is where you’re going and how you get there. The day I finally prevailed was the day I was inducted into the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame. For me it was an awesome day and there are no words to describe it.
I’ve been telling stories and scribbling for 37 years. I hope I can continue for another 37 years. It wasn’t easy during some of those years. As I said, I had to persevere. My old Polish grandmother said something to me when I was little that I never forgot. She said when God is good to you, you have to give back. For a while I didn’t know how to do that. When I finally figured it out I set up The Fern Michaels® Foundation.
READ FERN MICHAELS' FULL BIOGRAPHY HERE: http://www.fernmichaels.com/biography/
As they say, the past is prologue. I grew up, got a job, got married, had five kids. When my youngest went off to Kindergarten, my husband told me to get off my ass and get a job. Those were his exact words. I didn’t know how to do anything except be a wife and mother. I was also a voracious reader having cut my teeth on The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames and the like. The library was a magical place for me. It still is to this day. Rather than face the outside world with no skills, I decided to write a book. For some reason that didn’t intimidate me. As my husband said at the time, stupid is as stupid does. Guess what, I don’t have that husband any more. Guess what else! I wrote 99 books, most of them New York Times Best Sellers.
Moving right along here . . . Several years ago I left Ballantine Books, parted company with my agent, sold my house in New Jersey that I had lived in all my married life and in 1993 moved to South Carolina. I figured if I was going to go through trauma let it be all at one time. It was a breeze. The kids were all on their own at that point. The dump was a 300 year old plantation house that is listed in the National Registry that I remodeled. Today it is beyond belief as are the gardens and the equally old Angel Oaks that drip Spanish moss. Unfortunately, I could not get my ghost to relocate. This ghost has been documented by previous owners. Mary Margaret as we call her, is “a friendly”. She is also mischievous. It took me two weeks to figure out that she didn’t like my coffee cups. They would slide off the table or counter or else they’d break in the dishwasher. I bought red checkered ones. All are intact as of this writing. She moves pillows from one room to the other and she stops all the clocks in the house at 9:10 in the a.m. at least once a week. When the Azaleas are in bloom, and only then, I find blooms on my night stand. I have this glorious front porch and during the warm months I see my swing moving early in the morning when the air is still and again late in the day. She doesn’t spook the dogs. I always know when she’s around because the five of them line up and look like they’re at a tennis match. As of this writing we’re co-habiting nicely.
Most writers love what they do and I’m no exception. I love it when I get a germ of an idea and get it down on paper. I love breathing life into my characters. I love writing about women who persevere and prevail because that’s what I had to do to get to this point in time. It’s another way of saying it doesn’t matter where you’ve been, what matters is where you’re going and how you get there. The day I finally prevailed was the day I was inducted into the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame. For me it was an awesome day and there are no words to describe it.
I’ve been telling stories and scribbling for 37 years. I hope I can continue for another 37 years. It wasn’t easy during some of those years. As I said, I had to persevere. My old Polish grandmother said something to me when I was little that I never forgot. She said when God is good to you, you have to give back. For a while I didn’t know how to do that. When I finally figured it out I set up The Fern Michaels® Foundation.
READ FERN MICHAELS' FULL BIOGRAPHY HERE: http://www.fernmichaels.com/biography/
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 16, 2023
No storyline really - just a quick read
Too much sex for me
Too much sex for me
February 24, 2017
mostly sex
August 15, 2019
An older woman, Rita, meets a 10 year younger man as she nurses her wounds from her divorce and learns to celebrate herself and say no to her horrible children. Ok story
December 31, 2022
Glad the author gave the woman a back bone at least. So good to see after reading about insipid female leads.
February 11, 2013
All She Can Be
Rita and Brett Bellamy were divorced. Her writing was paying off nicely and he couldn't handle that. She was lucky to get the house in NJ and the cabin in the Pocono Mountains where she was curently writing an historical romance novel.
She had the whole lake Happiness to herself as it was just fall all but for one renting the house at the bend in the lake, Twigg Petersen. He's a professor on sabbatical to write reports from his marine journeys around the world.
She recalls what each of the kids said about her divorce...
The guy in her life is Ian Martin and he's also her literary agent and he's due to pay her a visit.
She went into town and got some things to spoil herself with and 4 rooms of furniture, plants and groceries. Her kids never thought of her writing job as a job and want her to drop everything to babysit for 4-5 days while they go on a trip. She has to put her foot down and finish the book she's writing, she's on deadline.
Her male character is becoming more like Twigg than she realizes...and she can even describe a kiss they share...
She was still a slave to her kids, making doctor appointments for them, etc.
Her daughter comes to visit and is taken aback with her neighbor and that she's said no to other family members. She sure has changed...How much will she trust her friend with her daughter... The snow comes and so much of it at one time...
Hot steamy love scenes add to this story, love the locale and how it's described.
Love the family relationships and those of friends, wish this was a series.
Rita and Brett Bellamy were divorced. Her writing was paying off nicely and he couldn't handle that. She was lucky to get the house in NJ and the cabin in the Pocono Mountains where she was curently writing an historical romance novel.
She had the whole lake Happiness to herself as it was just fall all but for one renting the house at the bend in the lake, Twigg Petersen. He's a professor on sabbatical to write reports from his marine journeys around the world.
She recalls what each of the kids said about her divorce...
The guy in her life is Ian Martin and he's also her literary agent and he's due to pay her a visit.
She went into town and got some things to spoil herself with and 4 rooms of furniture, plants and groceries. Her kids never thought of her writing job as a job and want her to drop everything to babysit for 4-5 days while they go on a trip. She has to put her foot down and finish the book she's writing, she's on deadline.
Her male character is becoming more like Twigg than she realizes...and she can even describe a kiss they share...
She was still a slave to her kids, making doctor appointments for them, etc.
Her daughter comes to visit and is taken aback with her neighbor and that she's said no to other family members. She sure has changed...How much will she trust her friend with her daughter... The snow comes and so much of it at one time...
Hot steamy love scenes add to this story, love the locale and how it's described.
Love the family relationships and those of friends, wish this was a series.
August 6, 2014
Not one of her best.
January 15, 2016
One star. Because zero stars isn't really a rating.
July 19, 2016
Fern Michael is a great author
my first time reading from this author. easy read
my first time reading from this author. easy read
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews