Well, the short bio was the highlights. For the long bio, I’m adding a little color. Â I was born and raised in Peoria, IL (we lay claim to being a four-time “All America City“). I had three brothers and one sister, and parents masochistic enough to insist we spend two weeks on a family vacation each year (yes, we drove; yes, there was a lot of arguing about who touched whom; yes, if you had been on even a single trip, you would know only a masochist would do that again).
I went to college in the nation’s capital, a big departure from the quiet of Peoria. It was a great experience and I left DC four years later with a degree in journalism. Returning to the Midwest, I worked at both the Wichita Eagle and Kansas City Star as a cub newspaper reporter. Realizing that long distance relationships couldn’t go on forever, I returned to DC, married my sweetheart and began working for a trade publisher. What is a trade publisher you ask? They do really industry-specific publications. This company did newsletters discussing everything from solid waste and sludge to children with disabilities. The job was actually pretty fascinating. Based on what a waste official told me about incineration practices and airborne mercury, there is one US city, I shall never set foot in again!
I had my first child in 2003, and after my second in 2007, became a full-time Mom. Â When my daughter started preschool, I started writing again, and now, when I’m not momming (hey, I see no reason mom can’t be used as a verb), I’m writing fiction.
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