The military and the Marine Corps prepared me to be numb to the stress.

My job was to make sure the base entrances were secure, that people entering were scanned and cleared, and that people within the bases were safe and abiding by the rules set forth by the Marine Corps.

For me, my biggest goal is to show the entire world that it does not matter where you come from. It doesn't matter what you've been through.

It takes a lot of nerves to be a sports entertainer and to be in front of those big crowds.

I have had a wonderful time. I don't think things could have gone any better for me because I was football-mad as a boy, and to get a job watching the game and going to all the major events I have been to has been very rewarding.

When I wrote the first Betsy book, 'Undead and Unwed,' I had no idea, none, that it would be a career-defining, genre-defining book, the first of over a dozen in the series, the first of over 70 published books, the first on my road to the best-seller list, the first on my road to being published in 15 countries.

One thing I was told early in my career is when you walk out on the field, the name on the back of your jersey is not yours - it's your dad's. I've carried that with me forever as something - I've worked harder and learned more about my father since he passed than when he was alive, because when he was alive, I was young, and I knew everything.

Because my career has been based so much on my looks, when I finally pass my 'sell-by' date, I think I'll probably pack it in. Unless I make the changeover into playing witches or something, I don't see what career I can have.