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Abbi Perets by Lisa Beamer

Some people take the road less traveled. Abbi Perets is one of them. Her life's path took her from her hometown of Reading, PA to Brandeis University at the age of sixteen. Leaving college two years later, she then moved to Israel where she joined the Israel Defense Forces. There she met her husband, Guy. Together they've had two daughters, Lior Zoe; (meaning "my light and life") and Liat Shir (which means "you are my song"). They now call the San Fernando Valley home.

Abbi's writing has also taken different paths. Writing professionally for over seven years, she started out doing marcom jobs and professional copyrighting in Israel. In 1996, she sold a short story to Webzine and broke into non-fiction two years later. Currently, Abbi writes a lot of non-fiction pieces for magazines, and she has several other projects in the works as well.

"I'm ghosting several chapters in a nonfiction book and working on a nonfiction book of my own," shares Abbi. "I have a novel in the works. I do a lot of marketing collateral for companies." In the past, Abbi ghosted several chapters in "Ace the IT Resume" (McGraw-Hill, 2001). She's also written three e-books on pregnancy (URL) and one on homebirth (URL). She is currently co-authoring a book with fellow MW Dej on query letters.

Abbi is proud of the fact that she's come so far in such a short period of time. "I mean, just three years ago, I was new to this business of freelance writing, and now I'm teaching a class called "Successful Freelance Writing" with a major online university."

Both success and failure, according to Abbi, are dependent upon the individual. "I attribute my success to me. I also attribute my lack of success to me. I believe you make your own luck in this world. Success or failure depends entirely on you."

There is no doubt that Abbi's success is at least in part a result of her serious work habits. "I've always had an office," Abbi says. "Here in sunny Valley Village, it's the detached garage, which was converted by the previous owners to a guest house. It's AWESOME. But the most important criterion for any office is that it have a door."

Abbi goes into her office and shuts the door each morning shortly after 8 a.m. and works until 5 p.m., stopping only when the kids need her or if she needs a break to eat. Admittedly, though, this is a luxury, one that Abbi won't have anymore after her sister-in-law returns to Israel in July. "Then it'll be back to early mornings and late nights."

Abbi's advice for beginning writers is equally beneficial to all writers, ?Follow up. If you start a query, finish it, send it out, and follow up. If you make sales calls, follow up. Persistence is *everything*.?

Some fun facts about Abbi:

Favorite Authors/Books: Amy Tan, Jung Chang, Maxine Hong, Fannie Flagg. Best book she's read in the last year was Steve Martin's "Shopgirl" and also a book called "Shalom, Japan," a non-fiction work by an Israeli woman who lived in Japan as the wife of a diplomat.

Favorite way to relax: Sleeping, gardening and drinking coffee.

Most memorable vacation: "When I was a kid, one of the cruises we went on was to Alaska. We took a helicopter ride in Juneau and landed on a glacier. We walked around on it for a while, all that nothingness. It was amazing."

Last movie seen in a theatre: "Panic Room. It was pretty good. Not great, but suspenseful. And Jared Leto is worth watching." She also loved the film version of the Count of Monte Cristo. "That's my favorite book of all time, and the movie was positively yummy, although it had very little to do with the book."

You can learn more about Abbi at her web site, http://www.DearAbbi.com. You can reach her via e-mail at abbi@perets.net.

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