I grew up in the Bavarian Village of Leavenworth Washington, not the prison.  Although they did make us wear dirndls and yodel.  My brother and I were named Peter and Wendy after the characters in Peter Pan, luckily there were no other girls in my family.  Tinkerbell would have been a social nightmare.      While getting a B.S.S. in Psychology from Washington State University, I dated Pat Robertson, but married Keith Richards.  This was a definite improvement.  I  convinced Keith to move back to Guam, where he was born and raised.  While there, I worked as an elementary teacher and counselor in Guam’s public school system for six years.      My husband and I also played water polo on Guam’s national team.  We competed internationally, where I was often the only female player.  Modeling part-time in Guam was terrifically funny, because apparently in Guam, I am exotic.  Considering, in third grade I took second place in an ugly contest, the irony still makes me laugh.     After graduating from the University of Guam with a masters in Counseling Psychology, I moved to Maine to be closer to my relatives in Washington state.  Well, it is slightly closer.  I now have two young boys, write for the local papers, and facilitate a program for first-time drug and alcohol offenders and their parents.      My favorite things include dark chocolate truffles, any tea except green (which I think tastes like boiled hay) and sourdough toast with Root Beer jelly.  My hobbies include weight-lifting, medieval dancing, deciding where to move next to avoid Maine winters, and internet shopping.  Who knew that Maine’s shopping would be so much more limited than in Guam?     I love to write humorous children’s books.  Although, I don’t know why so many of my stories have monsters in them.  I’ve been writing for many years and have no fear of rejection or revision.  Art and photography are also hobbies of mine, but as of yet, illustration is still beyond my talents.  I am working on that, though.     Some of my favorite children’s books are Yummy Yucky, by Lesli Patricelli, The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear, by Don Wood, The Monster in the Backpack, by Lisa Moser and Noah Z. Jones, Jimmy Zangwow’s Out-of-This World Moon-Pie Adventure, by Tony DiTerlizzi and Fancy Nancy, by Jane O’connor and Robin Preiss Glasser.      As for adult books, I love anything by Georgetter Heyer or Diana Gabaldon.  I also highly recommend the Fire and Ice Series by George RR Martin.     You can also find me on Facebook.com, where I like to make one sentence blogs about things that amuse me.

Bachelors in Psychology, Washington State University
Masters in Counseling Psychology, University of Guam
Graduate of Institute of Children's Literature
K-12 Counseling Certification (WA, ME, Guam)
K-6 Teaching Certification (WA, ME, Guam)
Published in "The Two Cent Times" and "Upcountry Chatter"
Art Published in "Careers" magazine
Three-time Young Writer's Conference Award
Participant in Centrum retreat for young artists