I grew up on a farm in rural Southwestern Ohio, six miles outside of town and worlds away from any real playmates. I was the youngest child and the only girl in a family of five. My two older brothers were best friends who hated having their little sister tag along behind them. When they did invite me to play, I was frequently the target of some premeditated ambush   Sometimes on the weekends, my parents' friends would come "out to the farm". One couple had a boy close to my age. He had Cerebral Palsy. He would stumble in the door, grinning and giggling and throw his arms around my neck. He was my best friend and he always wanted to play with me.             I know now that that my early friendship with Timmy gave me three very important things: unconditional love, compassion for handicapped children, and the name for my imaginary friend.   My imaginary Timmy was ever by my side (we even set an extra place for him at the table). We watched television mostly. We built forts like those on the westerns out of blankets and chairs. We fought with the Indians and took the wagon train west. We had our very own Hit Parade and played our own World Series games in the back yard         When I was five years old, I entered first grade and Timmy had to compete with Dick and Jane. I learned to read and reading became my new best friend! Weekly trips to the library made it possible for me to explore and dream about the world beyond the farm. Already armed with a superfluous fantasy life, I escaped into the world of fairy tales and fiction and plunged into the adventures of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew.

My love of reading and the English language quite naturally kindled my enthusiasm for writing in high school. I wrote for the school newspaper and hundreds of short stories, poems and sonnets and I wrote the senior class play and song.

I attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, graduating in 1971 with a BS in Education, English and Journalism and taught elementary and middle school. In 1981 I received my MEd. in School Psychology and Counseling, serving in school systems, an adolescent psychiatric treatment facility, in private practice, and for the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice.

Specializing in child, adolescent, and family therapy, I taught college level Psychology and have held seminars and workshops and I have written educational material and curricula, which have been used in-house at various school districts. I have also written proposals and grants.

I am a member of:
SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators)
SCWW (South Carolina Writers Workshop)
NASP (National Association of School Psychologists