Rose Senehi Biography

A writer is basically a storyteller,
and all my life I've loved hearing
people's stories and telling them.
(With a little embellishment, of
course.) They seem to rest in a
special place in my mind, and
whenever I have a peaceful
moment they drift into my
consciousness.
Originally from Michigan, I landed
in Syracuse, New York, after
attending Syracuse University. I
worked as a reporter for several
years before becoming the
corporate marketing director of
The Pyramid Companies for whom
I opened shopping malls
throughout the Northeast. I drew
from this highly charged
environment to write my 2nd
novel, WINDFALL.
The whole time I was racing from
town to town opening malls, I lived
on a hundred-acre farm outside
the small village of Cazenovia, NY,
where I raised my two children,
Jessica and David. I tried to inject
the unique and wonderful flavor of
the people of this small farming
community into the characters in
SHADOWS IN THE GRASS, my
first novel.
I'm always thrilled when people
say my books are character
driven, because that's where I
always start. I have to know my
characters, who of course, are
always intriguing, befoe I put them
in harms way...or get them
romantically involved.

The women in my novels are their
own heroes because that's what I
witnessed as I worked my way up
the corporate ladder. We've come a
long way since then. I remember
when I was on the road opening
malls in the 70s. I didn't dare tell
anyone I had two kids. Years later,
no one seemed to be concerned
when a corporate executive from
one of the major chains walked into
my mall office six months pregnant.
One cold, hard winter's day in
1996, a headhunter called me. It was
ten degrees in Upstate, NY, and I
was overspent on my mall snow
removal budget and it was only
January. I glanced at the USA Today
map and saw it was seventy
degrees in Myrtle Beach and jumped
at the offer to manage the Myrtle
Beach Factory Stores.
My third novel, Pelican Watch,
reflects my warm feelings for the
South and the wonderful people I've
come to know in Pawleys Island and
Murrells Inlet. I am a very active real
estate agent specializing in
oceanfront condominiums and
homes. This is a profession that
goes well with writing. I wake every
morning at four and write until eight
when I head for the office. I take my
disk with me and write on and off
throughout the day.

The Blue Ridge
Series
I have owned a place in the
mountains since 2004 and have
centered my fourth and fifth novels:
IN THE SHADOWS OF CHIMNEY
ROCK and THE WIND IN THE
WOODS around Western North
Carolina's Hickory Nut Gorge and the
Southern Blue Ridge Mountains.
They are the first in my Blue Ridge
Series. I have tried to write with
empathy about the universal desire
to hold onto ones land and heritage
against the forces that are changing
the places we love. It is my hope that
this series will not only entertain
people and create a fascinating
mosaic of the history of the area, but
paint a broad picture of the
pressures on the Southern Blue
Ridge and those who are working to
preserve it. The third book in the
series will be published in 2011 and
will center around a
five-hundred-acre mountain farm
nestled at the edge of the Hickory
Nut Gorge. It will explore the loves
and conflicts of a family steeped in
mountain history while being pulled
apart by the tides of change.

MORE ABOUT ROSE'S
INTEREST IN SAVING THE
MOUNTAINS FROM
OVER-DEVELOPMENT