I was born January 7, 1946, in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. When I was 12, my family moved to Long Beach. I attended USC and majored in business. Then I worked in advertising copywriting, travel brochures, took acting classes, and studied for a psychology degree. In 1978, while working as a waitress at Coral Beach Cantina on the Pacific Coast Highway, Michael Douglas bought my script for "Romancing the Stone". It was my big break, working with Robert Zemeckis and cowriting "Always" for Spielberg.