A writer was born...well, started.

It was a Saturday afternoon when I gave up my illustrious, hours-long ambition of becoming a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader (after seeing the made for tv movie) and decided that pen ...or rather, pencil and collegiate-lined paper were the path for me.

That day, I sat to write my very first story to be read aloud in Sunday school. I held the finished story in my fists as I ran down the hallway to my parents' room to share my excitement. I finished it!

I was six.

From literally that moment on, I was a child obsessed. Writing was my calling in life, I simply knew it. I spent so much more time in my 7th grade English classes working on writing the Great American Teenage Novel, that my teacher finally just gave up and graded me on the curve. I finished my first two novels--150 legal size pages, handwritten, in 7th grade and thought I was off to the races.

 

The designer was born...

(Translation: Pay a lot of money to go to school, get a degree and go beg for work.)

I took a very long-winded detour on my path to being The Greatest Novelist Ever. (My exact dream at age 8, I believe. Of course, then, the greatest novelist I knew was Dr. Seuss and...well, he's still pretty great.)

That detour dropped me into the career of marketing and design, for which I happily focused on for quite a few years. Little did I know how useful it would prove when I decided to pick up my keyboard (having graduated from pencil) and started writing again. Now I have the weight of a marketing career behind me, so whenever that career as The Greatest (Romance) Novelist Ever (my dream in...well, my dreams) kicks into gear, I have a multitude of experiences to help me navigate those waters.

 

Focus, Focus, Focus (and chocolate.)

In 2000, I decided to get serious and focused on truly learning the art and craft of romance writing.

Rules? Who knew?

Style? Something I did with my hair.

My first completed novel has been a major labor of love, having been through about four or five revisions--including one complete scrap-it-and-start-over revision. It's been my tool for learning how to be a better writer and how I write best. In 2007, I wrote my "The End." (Just as satsifying as those "The Ends" I wrote in 7th grade, minus the hearts dotting the i's.)

In 2008, that first "The End" was sold (along with the rest of the words) to the Wild Rose Press. Living proof that dreams do come true.

Now I have a few more tools in my writing toolbelt, my first book published, a drawer full of emergency chocolate (I had to get the chocolate in here somewhere), and a lot more stories to tell.

I currently live in Northern California with my husband (who is likely tired of having his brain picked on the 'male perspective'), our son and our faithful golden retriever, Tucker.

I'm sad to say that my sweet little pup Xena passed away in December of '07. But her happy face and snuggly memories are always with me.