Me in my "baby," my classic 1979 Volkswagen Beetle convertible affectionately named "Tweety."

     I'm a stay-at-home mom of five children—though I rarely find myself actually staying home.  ;)  When I'm not shuttling my kids to their activities or fulfilling my church responsibilities, I love to indulge myself in my two favorite past times: reading and writing.  I rarely go anywhere without a book in my purse and a notebook to jot down story ideas that pop into my head at the oddest times (like at red lights or while buckling kids into car seats). 

     I was born and raised in the San Francisco's Bay Area.  My group of friends from school and I would often head to Santa Cruz beach on school holidays and during summer vacations.  I also played a lot of sports, including soccer, softball, and my very favorite—tennis.  Even to this day I love to play team tennis with a city league.  Team camaraderie is just something that can't be beat!  Getting out and practicing and drilling as a team is so much fun, and so rewarding.  Some of my other favorite activities include riding horses, sewing, decorating my house (I'm an HGTV addict :)), and tending to my flower gardens.

     Many people ask how I got involved in writing.  Well, I got involved in reading.  :)  Ask any writer and they'll tell you they love to read.  Ever since I can remember, I've been a voracious reader.  As a teenager, I loved Walter Farley's Black Stallion series and Marguerite Henry's stories.  As I got older, I also started reading young adult romances.  That's when I fell in love with romances.  I've always considered myself a hopeless romantic, and even as a teenager, I knew that some day I wanted to write and publish romance novels of my own. 

     To that end, I soaked in everything I was taught in my English and creative writing classes in junior high and high school.  I loved getting assignments to write poems or short stories because I took particular enjoyment in putting words together in ways that would touch or move a reader.  When I graduated from high school, my love of writing was put on hold when I went to Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) in Rexburg, Idaho, and got my degree in Preschool Education.  Working with those great kids was so much fun, and it really helped me prepare for having children of my own.

     After I got married and was busy raising children, my thoughts started to turn back to writing.  Being a busy mom with young children made it more difficult for me to get away from home, so writing was something I could do while my children napped or played.  I started writing every chance I got, and I loved it.  Then came the Internet.  What a wonderful thing that turned out to be!  So much information opened up to me as a writer.  I started researching writing techniques online, learning about how to get published, and how to become a better writer.  It was wonderful! 

     Then one day, just for fun, I did an Internet search for my then favorite TV show, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.  (As I said before, I'm a hopeless romantic, and this show was just so wonderful—and yes, oh so romantic! ;))  Imagine my surprise and delight when I learned there was a whole slew of fans out there who had websites dedicated to the show.  I even found some websites that hosted something entirely new to me, something called "fanfiction," which are stories written by fans, using the show's characters.  How fun!  I remember reading for hours and hours.  It was like having whole new episodes—at least in reading form.  :)  Instantly, I was hooked.  I read all the Lois & Clark fanfiction I could find, and even decided to write some of my own.  Sixteen stories resulted in the following five or so years, and it has been such a fun way to try new writing techniques and build writing skills.  During that whole process, I met many, many wonderful people who also happened to be fans of the show.   Fast friendships were formed, writing techniques shared and discussed, stories (both fanfiction and original) stories were critiqued and developed.  To be honest, I've probably learned more about writing from my Lois & Clark fanfiction writing buddies than I've ever learned from anyone else.  They helped turn my writing into a passion for me instead of just a hobby.  I'll be forever grateful to them.  :)  If you're a fan of the show, or you want to check out my fanfic, you can learn more here, or click on the banner below:

      As far as original fiction goes:  While I was writing fanfiction for enjoyment, I was always working on a novel at the same time.  I wrote and shopped around three different novels to national publishers and agents for years, with no success.  I have enough rejection notices to wallpaper my bedroom wall.  :P  It didn't help my morale, but it certainly taught me to keep honing my skills and, most of all, to never, ever give up on my dream of being a published novelist.  Finally, with my fourth book (yes, Love Beyond Tomorrow), I got that wonderful phone call from a real-life publisher, telling me they wanted to publish my book.  I was on cloud nine for months.  I have several more stories in the works, and I hope Love Beyond Tomorrow will be only the first of many more novels to come.