I have been writing for as long as I can remember, starting with a kind of goofy fable when I was in the second grade, which I illustrated as well. Then came the mega historical epic in sixth grade fashioned after my favorite hero at the time, the Swamp Fox, (played on TV, by the dashing Leslie Nielsen). After reading The Scarlet Pimpernel in the eight grade, the French Revolution caught my fancy and there followed another great saga. My life-long love of early American history can be traced back to the many family vacations up and down the east coast, where my Civil War buff father photographed me and my sisters perched on cannons at every major fort and battlefield from Canada to Virginia. I have since written seven novels, was a finalist in RWA's Golden Heart contest (with Winter Fire) and placed and won a number of chapter contests with a variety of historical and time travel novels.

I indulged my need to be creative in college by majoring in dramatic arts, pursued a short-lived acting career in the Big Apple, went on to earn an MFA in acting, got married, taught drama at a small all-girls liberal arts college in Indiana, returned to the East Coast, moved around a bit, and then finally settled down. During those years, I dabbled in careers in advertising, publishing, self-employment, and higher education reform in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.