I am the award-winning author of 8 novels, most recently the BookSense Pick Girls in Trouble, which is now in its third printing.  My novels include MEETING ROZZY HALFWAY (optioned to Paramount), LIFELINES, JEALOUSIES, FAMILY, INTO THIN AIR (also optioned to film and I wrote the script), LIVING OTHER LIVES (optioned for film), COMING BACK TO ME (optioned for film), GIRLS IN TROUBLE (film interest.) My 9th novel BREATHE will be published by Algonquin books in Spring 2010.

I am a book columnist for The Boston Globe and Dame Magazine (http://www.damemagazine.com) and a book critic for People Magazine. I am also a professional namer and manuscript consultant.

I have written since I was in grade school and I always wanted to be a writer since I can remember. My head is always swimming with stories and I am particularly interested in stories about family and the relationships we fuse.

New York Foundation of the Arts Award, Goldenberg Literary Prize, National Magazine Award Finalist, Nickelodeon Screenwriting Fellowship Finalist, Quarter Finalist Fade in/Writers Net Screenplay Competition

I am thrilled that my 9th novel BREATHE will be published by Algonquin books in 2010. IN the meantime, I have two personal essays appearing in both Hallmark and Scholastic magazine, and an essay THE GRIEF DIET is in the anthology, FEED ME. Besides teaching novel writing through UCLA, I am also working with writers as a manuscript consultant, a job I love.

my website
Here, you can find lots of information about me, my novels, my work, my everything

my blog
My blog is about all sorts of things: knitting, politics, writing, interviews with other writers, book reviews and a special segment with the writer Clea Simon called HOW WE WRITE: TWO WRITERS TALK TECHNIQUE

Untitled novel
While working on my 9th novel with my fabulous editor at Algonquin, I have started my 10th novel. I'm superstitious so I can't really talk about it, except to say that it is dark.