Playing in history
Raven's love of the written word is matched by her love of medieval history. A lady in the Society for Creative Anachronisms, Raven enjoys researching, period cooking and creating subtleties. Eleanor of Aquitaine is Raven's favorite historical figure.
When she's not writing
Raven is an accomplished, self taught chef. Raven placed 7th out of a field of over 2000 in the PBS series, Master Chefs, USA, in 2000.
Her family has been making the same sugar cookie recipe since before it was brought to the US by Raven's great-great grandmother, Katharina Czinczoll in the 1800s.
Raven is an admitted soap opera junkie. She has watched daytime serials as long as she can remember. One of Raven's earliest memories is of The Young and The Restless' Katherine Chancelor standing before her massive closet choosing her outfit for crashing her own funeral. Raven even went for Halloween as All My Children's Erica Kane at the age of 6. The only time Raven will admit to skipping clss was the day Luke and Laura were married on General Hospital. Although she was joined by a handful of friends and a teacher.
Raven also enjoys genealogy. Raven has traced several branches of her and her husband's families. Some branches go back 40 generations.
Raven greatly admires Dame Elizabeth Taylor for her tireless dedication to helping others (& her taste in emeralds).
Raven also holds a special affection for the ballet superstar, Mikhail Baryshnikov. A would-be ballet dancer as a child, she longed to be on the same stage in the corps de ballet, but had to give up the fantasy after a "career" ending knee injury. Now she just admires from afar, but hopes to pass on her love of ballet to her granddaughters and to be their 1st teacher.