HERE'S MY STORY...

Hello and welcome to my website! I am overjoyed to share my story with readers .

I was born in the Chicago suburbs, but spent my early childhood in Metairie, just outside New Orleans. That's me on the left at age three, sun-kissed hair from the Lousiana sun. I'm not sure if I am smiling or if I am in pain, but even I can see there's a lot going on in that little brain of mine. You can see it in my eyes.

I have always been a reader and a writer. I read books before I could even read. I would pretend to know what the symbols meant, and I did the same with writing--doodling and sketching and scribbling stories only I could translate. Eventually, I learned to read for real. I don't remember how it all happened but it was fast, and one summer, there I was reading Nancy Drew novels in a day. To me, books were movies playing in my mind. I was hooked.

The writing happened more slowly. My first stories were a series called Nan & Jan. These were very forced--me trying to impress my second grade teacher. But I continued to write better stories throughout my childhood, entering Young Authors contests in junior high (and never winning!) 

English soon became my favorite subject, and I was a precocious reader. In seventh grade, I did a book report on Thoreau's Walden. High school brought even more books into my life---The Great Gatsby, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Tale of Two Cities--and also a love of  theatre and music. Although I continued to act and sing in college, English was my major.  

I earned a BA in English from Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on the beautfiul shores of Lake Michigan, and then went on to teach middle school, high school and community college English before finding my niche as a freelance writer and Arts & Entertainment journalist. For me, writing non-fiction provided the best backdrop for writing fiction, and the two sides of my brain--the journalist and the novelist--coexisted in harmony.

Actually, I started out with short stories, always wanting that somewhat instant satsifaction of completing a piece. The Butterfly Sister started out as a short story too, but I soon realized it was a novel, and took the leap of faith in writing it. It has been a long but rewarding almost ten year journey writing and rewriting the book, and eventually getting it published with William Morrow/HarperCollins.

Today, l live with my husband and three children in suburban Chicago, where I am trying to raise my own curious, creative readers. I don't have a cat or a dog like other writers seem to have and mention at length on their websites and book covers, but we do have a bird and a hermit crab. Does that count?

The Butterfly Sister is my debut novel. 

And yes, I am writing book two, so stay tuned!