I always had a dream of becoming an actress or an author. The adults in my life would call them "pipe dreams". Imagination always got me in trouble and people didn't take me too seriously, add to the fact I had blonde hair and the title "ditsy blonde" could be heard in teasing. As an adult I married, raised my children and settled into careers that were respected, finally becoming a computer technician and owning my own computer business, selling and repairing computers. People took me seriously and gave me respect for my knowledge of computers. During these years I used my creativity in my children's activities and volunteer positions, writing Christmas Programs and Lenten Services for our church. I hid the poems and writing I wrote as a teenager and young adult and put them out of my mind because a writing career was a dream. I believed what I had been told, it was a "pipe dream." During my life I was an avid reader starting out with Trixie Beldon, Nancy Drew, and expanding my world with romances, mysteries, inspirational reading and gritty crime stories. I was in awe of the talent of the authors. In 2005 I took the chance of sending my thoughts to an area newspaper and they accepted me as a columnist in their paper. I have been writing my column Something About Nothing since then. I write about anything that comes to mind, sometimes meaningful and sometimes fluffy and about nothing but being silly. In 2011, during an illness that laid me low, I began to write a story on my blog about a silly fictional town in Minnesota with an older woman character who defied our idea of old age. Each day I would wake with a new chapter in my head. This story got me out of my illness and back into the world, along with the help of good doctors and many encouraging friends. One day I was reading a book which sounded somewhat like the book I wrote. It was a Cozy Mystery. I didn't know what a Cozy Mystery was. I looked it up, found the publisher, sent in a query letter and got accepted after a few changes to my book. Being accepted for publication by Cozy Cat Press began a new life for me. I now have four books out in the Fuchsia Minnesota Series, two books out in the Granny Is In Trouble series for kids and my first book published with some of my earlier columns. The Penderghast Puzzle Protectors is my first book in the Brilliant Minnesota Series. I feel truly blessed in my life. A year ago I quit my computer business to write full time and I hope to have many more book ideas swirling around in my mind. I now know I need to have faith in myself and listen to the whispers in my heart. Creativity and imagination are a blessing and I encourage others to never give up on their dream, no matter their age.   

Signed contract with Cozy Cat Press in 2012