Writer.
History buff.
Skating fan.
Tea lover.
Anglophile.
Russophile.
All of those describe me. Depending on how you know me, some work better than others.
I grew up in an almost-rural part of Northern California, in a town that couldn’t decide if wanted to produce eggs or microchips. It also couldn’t decide if it wanted to identify itself as part of the Wine Country or the Bay Area. In truth, it was like both, and it was like neither. Trendy boutiques competed with antique shops for the attention and dollars of weekenders and locals alike.
I don’t know when I became a writer. Some people can pinpoint that down to a split second epiphany, but not me. I do know that the adults around me suggested it, going back as far as I can remember. I suppose a combination of a vivid imagination and love for books pointed down that path long before I realized it. I used to write stories in my notebooks in class, even as early as elementary school. I never finished them, growing bored with each before reaching the end. In high school, I took up the writing mantle again, this time writing a serial story for my friends on a now-defunct figure skating forum.
I moved to Southern California in 2006, wanting to find another path. Once there, I gave NaNoWriMo’s crazy novel-in-thirty-days my first real try, after a miserable failure in 2005. Finally, in 2007, the third time was, in fact, the charm. I managed to type “the end” for the first time in my life on a novel-length manuscript. Granted, it was a terrible excuse for a mystery wherein I couldn’t bring myself to kill the intended victim, but it was enough to prove to myself that I could actually get there. In 2008, I became a Municipal Liaison for our local region, and I continue to participate in NaNoWriMo each November.
On Thin Ice, a young adult novel, is complete and looking for a publishing home. As a former competitive figure skater and a lifelong skating fan, it was a joy to write a book set in the world of elite pairs skating.
I am also editing my alternate history novel, The Lion and the Eagle, which explores what might have happened had the Russian revolution failed.
I live in Southern California, with my amazing husband. We enjoy playing with and training our German Shepherd dogs, as well as playing Dungeons and Dragons together.
I am represented by Katelyn Uplinger at D4EO.