I know I like to learn about my favorite authors as people, so I wanted to share with my readers a little about me.
I was born and raised in the gorgeous Finger Lakes of western New York. (Yes, there really IS more to New York than the iconic city!) I grew up in the tiny town of Pulteney, but if people asked me where I lived, I usually gave my mailing address of Branchport; however, I spent most of my time in Prattsburgh, where I went to school. I was raised on a dairy farm with my four siblings, Jeff, Valerie, Rodney and Mark. I was also fortunate to have both sets of grandparents living nearby and most of my aunts, uncles and cousins. This rich family connection definitely made me the “people-oriented” person I am today and influenced relationships my characters experience.
After graduating with my Bachelor of Arts degree from Keuka College in 1983, I married my husband, Jim, a Connecticut native, and moved there, too. I taught sixth grade English in Glastonbury, CT for 26 years. I earned my Masters in Education from the University of Connecticut (Go, Huskies!). We have four adult children, Carrie Beth, a Language & Speech Pathologist in an elementary school, her husband, Nate, who is a forensic accountant, Nick, a web developer, (Yes, he designed and implemented this website.) and Nick's wife Amy, who is a Customer Success Manager for a tech company.
In 2011, Jim and I made our dream come true by moving back “home” for me. We now live on a 33 acre “farm” where we have our rescue dog, Mollie, my two horses, Sasha and Lacey, and four cats. Tanner and Chara were adopted from the humane society, Noelle adopted us when she chose our barn as her safe haven, and Neebs, one of four kittens Noelle gave birth to after she adopted us. The other three kittens, Grace, Stormy, and Sky Dancer all have wonderful, loving families of their own and are very spoiled. We love living in the midst of farm country, and this region has been my inspiration for the settings of Finding Atticus, Over the Edge, Before I Knew, and Pawprints in the Snow.
In addition to writing novels, I'm a freelance writer with several non-fiction articles published in Country, Country Extra, and Farm and Ranch magazines. I work in alumni relations at Keuka College, my alma mater. I also do freelance work for Finger Lakes Visitors Connection, because that allows me the opportunity to share my love of the Finger Lakes Region with people around the world.
I’ve loved writing for as long as I can remember. I still have many of the horse stories I wrote as a pre-teen and teen, and even the unpublished novels I started writing in my mid-teens. With each story I write, each writing class I take, each conference I attend, each writer I meet, I grow as a writer. I’m always learning, and maybe by the time I’m 100, I will have perfected this craft.
ATTIC LETTERS: Secrets of Love and War has been a book waiting to be published since 2002 or '03 when I wrote the first draft. Then, other projects and life intervened, and I put the story on the back burner. When I finished co-writing YOU CAN TRUST ME with Scott Driscoll in the fall of 2018, I decided it was time to revisit Attic Letters. And, now, it's part of my "book bag." PAWPRINTS IN THE SNOW, the story of Noelle finding her way into our barn, family, and hearts is the latest release in November 2021.
If you read my first three novels, FINDING ATTICUS, OVER THE EDGE, and BEFORE I KNEW, I hope you enjoy spending time with the people and Golden Retrievers in Keuka Shores, the setting of the Finger Lakes Series novels. Although each novel stands alone, you might find it fun to start with Finding Atticus then continue the series with Over the Edge, and complete it with Before I Knew.