About Me
I was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. As a child, I loved playing with stuffed animals, and my friends and I enjoyed neighborhood games like Kick the Can and Green Ghost (which was a version of Hide and Seek as I remember). I loved animals--especially our black labrador. We named her Liberty because she was born in 1976. I have two older brothers who loved to torment their little sister. But we also had a lot of fun together. Below is my school picture from kindergarten. I wrote my first book when I was in kindergarten. It's a three-page adventure story about a helicopter. I had quite a sense of justice!
Many writers I know were avid readers as children. When I was young, I enjoyed reading, and I made lots of trips to the library with my mom. My parents were always avid readers and still are. But it wasn't until I was in high school and college that I learned to LOVE to read. And it was about that time when I started writing more as well.
What I love best about the scenery of Colorado are the wide open skies where the clouds move like billowy sail boats across the bluest sky you can imagine. The city of Denver sits up against the Rocky Mountains, and that's how I learned my directions—the mountains are always west of the city. In college, I studied to be a high school English teacher. There I met my husband, Scott, who is a Lutheran minister. Later, I earned my master's degree in English education in Indiana. Soon after that, our son Jacob was born.
I enjoyed teaching English as a Second Language to children and adults before my first little board book was published in 1997.
In 1999, I moved with my family to western Pennsylvania where we lived in rolling green hills. Compared to Denver's open skies, in Pennsylvania I felt a little bound in by trees and unable to tell which direction is which! There are many things to love in Pennsylvania—the trees for one. Sassafras trees, for example,
have three different types of leaves—one shaped like a diamond, one like a mitten, and one with two thumbs. And what else goes with lots of trees? Squirrels, of course! In my writing space in my attic, I frequently hear the pitter-patter of little
squirrel feet running on the roof of our house.
After living in western Pennsylvania for seven years, my family moved to the Midwest. We currently live in Indiana where again we have wide open, flat spaces. Squirrels still love us here.
I participate in a great organization called the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Members of our local chapter meet to critique each other's manuscripts, talk about changes in the publishing industry, trade ideas, and most of all form friendships. My writing groups have been a huge help to me, and I encourage anyone who is interested in writing to get into a good critique group and look into joining SCBWI.
In addition to writing books, I also have written for magazines, such as Christian Parenting Today, as well as for children's devotional magazines. I currently write Sunday school curriculum. I spend a lot of time working on my books, but like many writers, I also work on other various activities.
In my free time, I like spending time with my family, walking my dog, hugging my cats, walking through the woods, doing puzzles, watching movies, reading lots of books, and most of all…writing, of course!
You might be interested in my blog (like online diaries). You can read more at: Jottings and Such
