Name, Age, and State: Sibella Giorello, 48, Washington

Job-title: Novelist, Homeschool Mom

Web/blog site URL: www.sibellagiorello.com

Give us your job description in 25 words or less. I play with imaginary friends. Then I write about them.

Describe a typical workday. Fortunately there is no typical day -- I would get bored if there was. Research for my novels leads me into unexpected places -- say, a morgue -- and meetings with interesting people -- say, a horse racing jockey. But our family also home schools, and that has its own wonderful twists. My life is thrilling and comforting at the same time.

What led you to realize that you wanted to do this type of work? As a girl, I always kept a diary, wrote letters, and made up stories for my parents. But it wasn't until after college when I started working in journalism that I realized nothing could replace writing as a job. It's just too much fun.

What type of education or training was required to land your job? I studied geology in college, then went back and got a journalism degree, which these days isn't really necessary. The key thing is to be writing in a public way, such as maintaining a blog or contributing to websites. You can learn a lot by creating your own apprenticeship. And staying humble.

Did you have any heroes or mentors in your industry that you admired? All the writers who blazed trails ahead of me, but particularly the writers who didn't sacrifice their first calling -- God and family -- for fame and fortune.

What do you love most about your job? Oh, the dreaming stage. It's just too wonderful. You're creating characters and hearing bits of dialogue. It's like a party inside your head. Unfortunately, it doesn't last. You eventually have to sit down and put things in order and make it clear to the reader what's going on. But nothing beats that beginning stage.

What one part of your job do you wish you could hire someone else to do? Copyediting. Picking out commas, misspellings, etc. It feels like housework to me.

What advice would you give to teenagers wanting to get into your field of work? Write. And feed your passion for words and stories. That might sound simplistic, but writing takes time and effort. But it will seem easier if you fall in love with words, and characters, and stories.

How does your job allow you to use your God-given gifts? All good stories, all the truly excellent tales, return to the greatest story ever told. Love. Grace. Redemption. Salvation. And to write about those things, I'm continually turning to Jesus, asking for insights into human nature.

Do you have any hobbies or off-hours pursuits that teenagers would find of interest? I run, a lot. And sometimes I run with my teenage son's iPod. Man, has that been an education in teen music -- rock on!