A Little Bit About Me

I’m from a family of writers, producers, and performers, but I must be an introverted extrovert because while I thrive on my interactions with others, I’m much more comfortable being an observer rather than a participant. That may explain why my first love was journalism. For me, reporting the story was a calling, and back in the day, there was nothing like the buzz of a newsroom. But while my husband and I were raising our three children overseas without family nearby, that calling shifted. As expats, your friends become your family, and the best thing about female friendship is all the talking and sharing. It’s how we process our emotions and get clarity on challenging situations. We connect, we support, we celebrate, and we lift one another up. That experience inspired me to want to write my first book, Fox Tales, a slice-of-life novel filled with compelling composite characters experiencing the fraught nature of marriage.

Thus, my journey into fiction writing began. As a full-time mom, that novel took more than ten years to complete. The first half of my second novel—written as I helped usher my children through a transatlantic move, high school sports schedules, driving lessons, college applications—you know, all the things—took about half that time. But it only took three months to write the second half of The Lights of Kirrie once my husband and I dropped our baby off at the dorms freshman year, and I joined a writer’s group. I have long been a believer that you can do it all, just not necessarily at the same time. At fifty-six, I’m an empty nester who is incredibly proud of my children, and who is on to writing my third of many more novels with the focused intensity of the good old days. It’s a beautiful season to be creative.