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The author was born in the former Panama Canal Zone, but lived half of her growing up years on both coasts of the U.S., as well as in Panama. Due to the many changes in schools during this period she developed a broad understanding of both cultures and speaks both English and Spanish. Her father is an American and her mother Ecuadorian. Living around a vast number of multi-cultural people has given her a multitude of characters from which to draw her protagonists. She says when she decides on a protagonist she must know everything about that character, even her fictional characters. While she was awaiting entrance into nursing school, Myrna worked as a secretary. Later she met and married her husband and settled in the Santa Clara Valley of California. Being one of six children and eventually having six children of her own, Myrna loves being around children of all ages and says the little ones love it when she tells them stories. She says her first priority in life is her family. Myrna taught great books in her children's school, and Christian Doctrine at their church. She entertained at rest homes as a clown, and was leader of a teen club when her own children were teens. She had a working career of less than one year outside the home, but she never regretted having stayed home with her large family. She says that being a mom was her calling. Myrna attended college and nursing school before marriage. She enjoys dabbling at the piano and the guitar when not writing or spending time with her family. She tries to stay fit by swimming and biking with her husband. The author began writing when her children were all out of high school. Her writing career began one 4th of July when inspired to write a poem about the Agapanthus that had flowered, like a burst of fireworks, in her backyard. She ran inside for pencil and paper and wrote six verses. No-one was more amazed than she, since English hadn't been her favorite subject in school-she hated diagramming sentences-the last thought in her mind was to become a writer. After receiving several awards for her poetry and having her poems published in various publications, Myrna says she was spurred on to find other avenues to express what was in her heart. It was then she found a new love in writing articles for religious magazines. Later she began writing a newsletter for a small group that expanded into a thirty page newsletter/magazine for one hundred readers. It wasn't until challenged to write about her own mother's fascinating life that she decided to write her first book, "Onward Peregrinos." A tale that turned into an epic about the Boynton family's unique trek between the U.S., Ecuador,and the Panama Canal Zone. A book that gives a close-up view of what made Americans go to the Panama Canal Zone, why they stayed, and what they did when it was time for them to leave. Having lived most of her growing up years in the Panama Canal Zone, Myrna's first hand account of life there is a descriptive and often humorous look into her own life. Although, she says she tried to stay focused more on other family members, her own life was entertwined with theirs. After her marriage, Myrna traveled for years with her engineer husband on business trips, moving back and forth across the U.S. whenever and wherever he was assigned for a year with General Electric. Since she still had wonderful memories of moving around when she was a child, she felt it was a good learning experience for her own children. On one of their business trips to Vermont, Myrna wrote her first mystery book, "Silent No More," for young adults and up. Her inspiration for this book came from being plunged into the Vermont woods after living in the Silicon Valley for so many years. The changes in the Vermont seasons, and long walks in the woods, gave her the time and store of haunting scenes needed to weave a mystery/suspense novella. Her third book, "Nalani of Hawaii," came about after fifteen years of vacationing in Hawaii. She says she was finally induced to write her first fiction novel with a setting in Hawaii after being continually reminded of her home in tropical Panama. Her decision to thread a tale around a political race while developing the romantic side of the novel, was a result of her desire to write what she knows. Although she claims her knowledge of politics is limited and she is not an avid party worker, she felt she knew enough about the inner workings and progression of a political race to write about it. She says her political experience came from helping in two major campaigns, one, the race for governor of California, and the other for governor of Hawaii. Myrna is now a grandmother and says she has many more books in her head. She is currently working on a humorous who-done-it, and says she is pleased with the way it's progressing. Another book is outlined and waiting for the completion of her current book. She says she owes her writing career to God and her readers, whose fan mail encourage her to put her stories down on paper. |
