Peggy Lara, 40, has had an interest in writing since she was a child. While her interest started in the form of list writing and lyric transcription, she has evolved into a contemporary novelist. With a passion for writing, a love of mystery and a zeal for life, this woman is one to watch.

Growing up, Lara wanted to become a housewife. It was what her mother had done and she had seen the value in being around her family. Her father, however, had other ideas for his children. He encouraged them all to go to college and get a degree and this is what played a large part in Lara’s choice to major in English.

“My parents started to encourage me to write thank you notes for Christmas gifts and birthday gifts and I started getting compliments on my notes,” said Lara.

This sparked her love of writing as she began to think about a career in it. She found the world of English to be fun and intriguing so she majored in English, eventually receiving her Master’s degree.

“I took a couple of writing classes, well, a lot of writing classes as you can imagine. I took poetry, feature writing and fiction writing too,’ said Lara.

While her workload was hectic, Lara did get some enjoyment out of reading. She started to pick up Mary-Higgins Clark books and began her love affair with mystery novels.

“I just loved her writing and I thought, ‘you know, I can do this.’ So, I would write down ideas but I never really sat down and got the whole story line from beginning to end and that’s what was lacking. I had all of these great ideas but I never followed through,” said Lara.

Lara is also fascinated by dreams. She wrote her thesis on the roles of dreams in Gothic literature and in her debut novel, “Dreams Unveiled,” they play a starring role. She describes them as something to be explored.

“I have always wanted to explore them [dreams] further in a book. That is one reason my book is called ‘Dreams Unveiled’,” said Lara.

Writing, however joyous, is not the main focus of Lara’s life. She has two beautiful children that keep her busy around the clock, and she also maintains her role as a teacher. While being a single mother is difficult, Lara shows no signs of strain as she talks about life with her children. Jack, 12 and Emma, 10, are the center of her world.

As a form of family entertainment, they enjoy movie nights together. Lara describes these nights as just about every night that is not a school night. She enjoys taking her kids to the park and playing with them. Just recently, she took her children to Shaver Lake to go horse riding which was something she liked to do when she was a child.

Her love of animals extended into being involved in 4h and horse riding but like any kid, she loved to go to the beach during the summer. That love of swimming has yet to end for Lara as she still tries to make time during the summer to visit the beach with her kids.

Another aspect of Lara’s life is her Mustang. She includes a Mustang in “Dreams Unveiled” because of her love for the car and she is even a member of a Mustang club. Members of the club that she is in that have read the book approve in her choice of car.

“When they read it they’re like ‘Oh, good choice on the Mustang!’” Lara said.

But what gets this writer going? Her motivation to write stems from chocolate coffee, sitting on the couch with her pad and a bunch of sharpened pencils. Lara says that she finds it difficult to type her material instead of writing it out by hand first because she feels that she cannot focus.

“I’m not creative at the computer. I can revise at the computer if everything is done, just change a few things at the end of it but I am not creative there,” said Lara.

While her creativity is not in short supply, Lara has a busy lifestyle. Her family, job and love for writing all contribute to the person she is and the accomplishments she has achieved. Lara plans to keep writing and even attempt a trilogy, so keep an eye out for her.