I’m the award-winning author of the Midlife Moxie novels and four short story collections: The Language of Love and Other Stories, Mistletoe Magic and Other Holiday Tales, Traveling Left of Center and Other Stories and Peripheral Visions and Other Stories. My nonfiction books include two books for writers: Rut-Busting Book for Authors and Rut-Busting Book for Writers, and the essay collection, The Gifts of Change.  The host of the Living the Writing Life podcast and founder of the annual “Midlife Moxie” Day and “Celebrate Short Fiction” Day, I teach writing workshops at conferences, libraries, and schools. I’m also a full-time freelance copywriter and member of the Florida Writers Association (FWA) and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA). My short stories have been accepted by magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Commuter Lit, Goat’s Milk Magazine, Toasted Cheese Literary Journal, Streetlight Magazine, Down in the Dirt, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable and Talking River, to name a few.  I'm also the founder of "Midlife Moxie" Day and “Celebrate Short Fiction” Day, and host of the Living the Writing Life podcast.  My motivation for writing? Change in all its forms and permutations, and the driving need to get my words and ideas out of my head and down on paper. My non-fiction provides encouragement and rut-busting advice to those facing change (or those who need to make a change!) while my fiction explores the way change affects us and how we react to it—from those who successfully navigate those sometimes rocky waters to those who get caught in the whirlpool to never surface again. So many non-fiction authors have influenced me—Susan Jeffers, Dianne Schwartz and Judith Sills, to name just a few. As for fiction “mentors,” Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Shirley Jackson and Mark Helprin share top place billing.  

MOVING MAGGIE — a 2026 Literary Titan Gold Book Award winner, a winner in the 2025 Firebird Book Awards Competition: Summer Beach Read and Women’s Fiction categories.


REINVENTING RITA — a 2023 International Firebird Book award winner, Bronze award winner in the 2023 Royal Palm Literary Awards (RPLA) competition, and semi-finalist in the Kindle Book Awards.


RUT-BUSTING BOOK FOR WRITERS — a Notable 100 Book in the 2018 Shelf Unbound Best Indie Book Competition and a finalist in American Book Fest’s 15TH ANNUAL BEST BOOK AWARDS.

RUT-BUSTING BOOK FOR AUTHORS — finalist in both the 2019 American Book Fest competition and the Independent Author Network 2020 Book of the Year as well as a 2019 Readers’ Favorite 5-Star award-winner.

TRAVELING LEFT OF CENTER AND OTHER STORIES — runner-up in Shelf Unbound 2016 Best Indie Book.

Peripheral Visions and Other Stories — finalist in The Eric Hoffer Award 2021 competition, Bronze award winner in the 2020 Foreword INDIES competition, finalist in the 2020 N. N. Light Book Awards – Short Story category and second-place winner in the Florida Writers Association 2018 Royal Palm Literary Awards (RPLA) competition.


“Right Wrist or Left” was shortlisted for Pulp Literature’s 2016 The Raven Short Story Contest.

“I Remember” — shortlisted for Tulip Tree’s 2017 Stories That Need to Be Told Contest

“Peripheral Visions” — a quarter-finalist in the 2016 ScreenCraft Short Story Contest

“Pandora’s Box” — a quarter-finalist in the 2017 ScreenCraft Short Story Contest, a finalist in the Florida Writers Association 2018 Royal Palm Literary Awards (RPLA) competition