ER JOURNEY BEGAN AS SHE GREW UP IN UPSTATE NEW YORK . She is the eighth-generation descendant of a poor man personally recruited by George Washington to fight with him in the American Revolution . About 80 years later , the other side of her family fought for the North in the Civil War and suffered greatly at Gettysburg . “ As a result ,” Lee says , “ My parents imbued in me a sense of love for my country , and very importantly , a sense of responsibility for my country , what this country stands for , and my fellow countrymen . That began my interest in political fiction .”
She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Grove City College in Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech . She earned a Master of Arts in Acting and Directing from the University of Wisconsin , and taught speech and drama at Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield , Illinois .
Lee moved to Los Angeles ; three years later she launched her career in the entertainment industry , a career that has spanned over 35 years . She had dozens of guest-starring roles in TV series such as “ Hill Street Blues ,” “ Matlock ,” and “ L . A . Law ,” as well as parts in mini-series and movies . She was submitted for Emmy nomination twice for her starring roles in the TV movies “ Collision Course ” and “ Which Mother is Mine ?”
“ White King and the Seat at the Table ,” her latest book , and the fourth in the White King series , is about a solution to confusion and conflict on the global level . It is what Lee calls her wheelhouse . She writes about psychological warfare , mind control , fifth columns being used to break the solidarity of the United States , Trojan horses that undermine our foundational institutions , and the new term being used out of Washington , D . C ., “ perception management .”
What qualified her as an expert in what she wrote about in her novels ? She says , “ As I ’ ve lived my life , there are three areas that I engaged in which turned into the skillsets and abilities and talents that I have .”
First , for more than 30 years , she has been in the television , theater , and film industries as an actor , writer , and director . Lee has had the opportunity to play many real people , including the character of Margaret Truman in “ Collision Course ,” and she was the first woman in the world authorized to play the legendary diarist Anaïs Nin . She also had the opportunity to do a TV miniseries about Watergate and played John Dean ’ s secretary , Jane Thomas . Finally , she was in the movie “ Hoover ” ( about J . Edgar Hoover ), and played Helen Gandy , his secretary of 60 years .
Lee believes that , as a writer , you have to know a lot about characters . Whether it ’ s a real-life character you ’ re portraying , or a totally fictitious one , there is a certain type of analysis that goes into it . The writer has to find the driving motivation of that character in order for that fictional person to be plausible to the audience or the reader . “ When you get it right ,” Lee says , “ Everything they did in the past makes sense , and you can begin to predict , very plausibly , what they will do in the future . That ’ s why some work seems so real or even prophetic .”
Second , for 40 years , Lee has also owned her own marketing business . Because of the exposure and partnership with others in the marketing world , she learned about marketing and about marketing buttons .
I never intended to write true stories , but I always did intend to reveal truth ,” says Lee .
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