I started writing before I could write, in the back seat of the car on Sunday drives and in my sunroom bed in my parents' apartment before the others were born. Poems came with skating around the block and later in the margins of lecture notes.
An inspired children's literature professor, Dorothy McKinsey, rekindled a love of Middle-Grade novels (ages 8-12) I acquired in an upstairs room shared with my sister.
After college, my husband and I taught elementary school in East Los Angeles. My fifth graders inspired me to write my first novel, Tanya's Desert Star, published by PAGES, a school book fair house. Unfortunately, my second novel was canceled when Scholastic acquired the company. As that happened, we completed a planned move to Colorado and everything was chaos for a while.
Then, through my old editor, I found a fresh outlet for my work. I started writing educational materials on assignment and was very busy for the next 20 years!
Now, I am back to writing poetry and fiction. (I also paint and take pictures.)