Kay developed her writing skills by earning certificates in fiction and non-fiction writing from the University of Washington, being part of a writing group, participating in readings, taking classes, and attending events at the Hugo House. Flash fiction was Kay’s first writing focus. After winning an international short story contest, she felt empowered to begin a novel with plans on stringing together the flash to finish it. Her novel, A Tight Grip, will be published by SWP in the spring of 2014. Much of the golf action in this novel was taken from Kay’s competitive golf experiences. Some highlights: youngest person, at fifteen, to be medalist and make it into the finals of the Jackson county match play tournament; played at the local, state, college, and national level; best round: 73; one hole-in-one; life-long friendships made. As a participant in NaNoWriMo-2011, Kay drafted a novel set in Seattle, which is a work-in-progress. An avid career changer, Kay spent a decade in the business world in four different industries, fifteen years teaching in a business school, and three years as a transit instructor. Kay has a BA in marketing from Michigan State University, and a MBA in management from Golden Gate University.

Some people might say that, at age 46, Jane “Par” Parker is too old to win golf tournaments; too old to fear her mother; and too old, after twenty years, to still feel heavy grief over the murder of her father. But Par has an obsessively tight grip on the past, and no one can tell her to live her life otherwise. Par is maniacally driven to win a golf tournament she hasn’t been able to win in ten years. Recent low-scoring rounds have strengthened her confidence. Distractions conspire against her: she spends a night in jail for a crime she blames on her husband; reads about her arrest on the front page; learns she has an enemy at the newspaper; and discovers shocking love affairs by those closest to her. A Tight Gripcelebrates the bonds of female friendships as Par Parker processes her life with her three closest friends. She discovers the transformative power of adversity, and seizes options to evolve as a person, an athlete, and a best friend.