I grew up dirt-poor in a tiny community very aptly dubbed "Weedpatch." My parents were very religious, and I sometimes explain my love of books by saying - and only half jokingly - that everything I could possibly have done that would have been thought of as "fun" was considered a sin. So I read. And read. And then I found something else to read. Sometime around third grade, I started alternating the reading with writing - mostly poems at that time, but some short stories and essay-type "stuff." What can I say ... I had the bug, and I've never tried to get rid of it.My earliest literary influence - aside from the Holy Bible, which remains the strongest - was Nancy Drew. But I would read anything I could get my hands on ... Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden, Bobbsey Twins. As I got older, I graduated to romance: Grace Livingston Hill, Emilie Loring, Barbara Cartland. Then I discovered Harlequin ... oh, my!

Former Staff Writer for The Bakersfield Californian, Kern County's largest daily newspaper.
Frequent contributor to regional publication, Bakersfield Magazine
Newspaper Institute of America
Longridge Writer's Group
Institute of Children's Literature
Editing and proofing skills utilized by numerous authors, including Dr. Chuck Wall, president of Kindness, Inc. and founder of the Random Acts of Kindness movement
Former editor of statewide departmental intranet newsletter for major insurance company
Former Sunday School bulletin editor/producer
Former Member, Romance Writers of America (RWA)
Former Member, Faith, Hope and Love (FHL - Inspirational chapter of RWA)
Member, American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW)