Formally trained in law, I am the author of six novels, including Go Ask Fannie (Putnam), which won the Colorado Book Award in General Fiction; In the Heart of the Canyon (Knopf); The Abortionist's Daughter (Knopf); and Crazy As Chocolate (MacAdam/Cage). My most recent novel, Night of the Shooting Stars, won the Front Range Book Award and will be published by Alternating Current Press. Much of my fiction is character-driven and involves family dramas or the group dynamics of, say, a river trip through the Grand Canyon. I love to put a bunch of people together on the page and see the dramatic tensions develop.

As a member of one of Colorado's artist-in-residence programs, I taught creative writing to children of all ages, from kindergarten through high school; I've also taught at the college level through Naropa University and the University of Puget Sound. I find that children, with their sense of fairness, have an instinctive grasp on things like point-of-view. Plus, explaining concepts -- to any age -- forces me to be more critical of my own work, providing a welcome objectivity.

Since I live near the dramatic Flatirons of Boulder, Colorado, I spend much of my time outside, hiking with my pup. I'm also a volunteer with the Indian Peaks Wilderness Alliance, which gets me up into the high country. I don't enforce (that's the job of the Forest Service people), but hey: leash your dog, pick up their poop, and don't camp right by the stream.

Would that writing could be so simple!