My love of the ocean began when I was five years old.  We were living on Long Beach Island in southern New Jersey. I was diagnosed with Perthes disease which affects the hip joint.  In those days the only treatment was immobility.  So, for the next two years I alternated between six months in bed, six months in a wheelchair, and then months on crutches.  Out the window next to my bed I could see the ocean and hear the waves.  I whiled the time away with reading and writing little stories. Later, at age 15 with earnings from cutting lawns in the neighborhood, I bought a wooden sailboat – a 17-foot long Comet with a mainsail and a jib.   It had a lot of leaks, but I managed to keep her afloat and taught myself to sail and race. In high school, I was the school newspaper editor and in college I helped start a sailing team. Now, a couple decades have passed.  I live in the U.S. Virgin Islands and make the time to pursue my two passions -- writing and sailing. 

My book, "Undocumented Visitors in a Pirate Sea," is a quarter-finalist in the 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest.

I served as a legislative aide to a United States Senator.