At the beginning of her adult life, Doris decided to save the world. Heeding the call of President Kennedy, she asked not what her country could do for her but what she could do for her country and joined the Peace Corps. You might have noticed that the world did not get saved, but Doris learned a few valuable lessons - among them that people the world over want the same things: peace, harmony, enough and a little more of the necessities, a better life for their children and to attract the opposite sex. She learned that people back home loved to get her letters, and she learned that she loved to teach. Returning to the U.S., Doris settled in San Antonio, Texas, to teach on the city's west and south sides. Since these areas are heavily Hispanic, she was able to savor the multicultural, international aspect of the city while still enjoying indoor plumbing and drinkable tap water. Reading provided another way to travel without leaving home. Three children into a rocky marriage, Doris decided it was time to try her hand at writing a book. With her now ex-husband coming in to baby-sit so she could do it, she learned what heroes are made of, even if she couldn't live with him. Without having the least idea how to go about it, she mailed the completed manuscript to Mills & Boon in England. Lo and behold a year and a half later they bought it. By the time it appeared on the shelves, however, Doris was living in the Davis Mountains of far West Texas and running a bookstore - where she learned that mountains fed her soul, but a small town bookstore would not feed three growing bodies. Today, Doris lives on the Texas coast, teaches at a community college, gets back to the mountains - and anywhere else she can travel - every chance she gets and writes. She's still learning, and the world is still not saved, but she hopes that somewhere someone is finding life just a little brighter through one of her stories. You may contact Doris at Drangel@selectrec.net or at P.O. Box 5645, Victoria, TX 77903
