Nina Schuyler is the author of the award-winning novel, “The Painting,” which was named by the San Francisco Chronicle as a Best Book for 2004 and by MSNBC as a “fearless debut.” She earned her undergraduate degree at Stanford University, a law degree at Hastings College of the Law, and a MFA in creative writing at San Francisco State University. She is currently working on a second novel. She teaches creative writing at San Francisco State University and University of San Francisco.

That’s the short version.

A longer version: For many years, the idea of writing fiction intimidated me. (The Greats staring down with disapproval). As a girl, I read all the time. But I didn’t write. I kept a spy log. My favorite book was Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh. I spied on my sisters. My mother. My father. I wrote things down. K got a bad grade and stuffed her report card behind her stinky socks. L licks her lips when she talks about chocolate. D’s breath smells like salami. Why?

Eventually I found the classics in BIG PRINT and read them all. Of course when I was older, I had to reread them because I didn’t remember a thing. I became a newspaper reporter, a magazine writer, a greeting card designer, a fitness instructor, a painting teacher, a tennis coach, an investment banker, a lawyer, (not in this order), and then, I wrote a short story. Then many short stories and went to San Francisco State University to earn an MFA. I wrote a novel that will remain in a drawer and then another novel, The Painting. And I’m finishing another novel and I suppose there will be another and another.

I still keep a spy log.

There's a longer version, but it goes on, well, for too long.