Biography

I wrote my first “book” in the fifth grade.  It was an updating of Charles Dickens’ novel Great Expectations.  Pip was now Smitty, and so forth.  I received an “A” for the project, and that encouraged me to keep writing.  When I was 13 I spent the summer writing a book about meeting my fantasy loves, the Beatles – which made me so embarrassed that it ended up in the trash.  But I couldn’t stop writing.  I was the editor of my high school literary magazine and won an award for one of my essays.

I tried to major in English as an undergraduate at the University of Florida, but reading Pilgrim’s Progress stopped me cold!   I couldn’t make it through that classic, and decided to switch gears.  I got my undergraduate degree in psychology, and eventually earned my M.S.W. and Ph.D. in social work at Florida State University.  After working for a while in the health field, I decided to be a college professor so I could, among other benefits, have summers off to dedicate to writing.  So, eventually I moved to Colorado to teach at the University of Denver.

Those years resulted in numerous professional and academic articles that gained me tenure and some status in my field, but I also wanted to write fiction and essays.  So, toward the end of my 20 years in academia, I published a short story, several essays, and even a poem.

After leaving academia and moving to Boulder I burst forth into a multiplicity of occupations.  I taught yoga and chi kung classes, earned a certificate in chi kung healing and practiced energy healing, used my license in social work to start a private psychotherapy practice, and made a relaxation CD.  These were fun, but not very lucrative, so I eventually ended up as a management consultant, working with 360 feedback.   I like using my skills to help people succeed in their careers.

Yes, I’ve enjoyed an eclectic work history.

For the last three years I have been writing a novel in my free time.  After many writing classes, conferences, and critiques, I have completed my eighth draft and am looking for an agent and publisher for The God Tablets.  A second novel is in the works, along with several short stories.