About Me...
I was born and raised on Chicago's south side, into a family of staunch White Sox fans and Democratic Party bosses...and much to their consternation, I'm a Cubs fan and I refused to discuss politics with them. I was never sure which upset them more.
I also grew up with a steady diet of syndicated Western television shows, John Wayne movies, and the Sunday night staple of Lassie. I blame those television shows and movies for my lifelong love of the American West and Collies. Only after researching the breed did I learn two very important things about Collies. One is that Lassie is really not a beautiful collie as far as conformation goes but he (yes, HE) has been the best PR my breed could ever ask for. And secondly, Lassie lied...Collies are not that smart.
I'm a hybrid, in that I'm published both traditionally (through the Wild Rose Press--one of THE best small publishers in operation today) and as an indie self-published author. I write western historical romance, some of it with the bedroom door firmly closed, others on the very steamy side with the bedroom door wide open. I hate the terminology "clean" for those closed bedroom door books. The reason for my loathing of the word "clean" to describe those books is a subject for a blog post. I wrote my first published novel while working on the critical introduction of my creative project for my master's degree. It wasn't the most perfect timing but my Muse isn't the most cooperative, either. She dropped Colt and Amelia into my head and insisted I write their story. So, I tried to reason with Her. Yeah...that wasn't going to work either. In between writing pages of that critical intro, I kept a second document open and wrote their story.
I'm an Amazon best-selling author. I've also won several awards for my books--two Laramie Awards, two Raven Awards, been a RONE nominee multiple times, a RONE finalist twice, and runner-up for the RONE in one of the most crowded and highly contested categories offered. I've also been a finalist for The Beverley.
During the time period I prefer to write in, our national psyche was recovering and healing in the aftermath of the American Civil War and the westward expansion helped to heal that psyche for some. The research I've had to do with each novel makes the history geek in me totally giddy. Those weren't pre-electric cooking and homemaking skills I was learning in my research. I was learning how my characters would have lived.
When I'm not writing, I show those Collies I first fell in love with as a child. I've bred or co-bred more than twenty champions. I also make beaded "bling" leads to sell to help support my dog show addiction/habit. Dog shows are the reason I don't have too many vices--I can't afford another habit.
I also grew up with a steady diet of syndicated Western television shows, John Wayne movies, and the Sunday night staple of Lassie. I blame those television shows and movies for my lifelong love of the American West and Collies. Only after researching the breed did I learn two very important things about Collies. One is that Lassie is really not a beautiful collie as far as conformation goes but he (yes, HE) has been the best PR my breed could ever ask for. And secondly, Lassie lied...Collies are not that smart.
I'm a hybrid, in that I'm published both traditionally (through the Wild Rose Press--one of THE best small publishers in operation today) and as an indie self-published author. I write western historical romance, some of it with the bedroom door firmly closed, others on the very steamy side with the bedroom door wide open. I hate the terminology "clean" for those closed bedroom door books. The reason for my loathing of the word "clean" to describe those books is a subject for a blog post. I wrote my first published novel while working on the critical introduction of my creative project for my master's degree. It wasn't the most perfect timing but my Muse isn't the most cooperative, either. She dropped Colt and Amelia into my head and insisted I write their story. So, I tried to reason with Her. Yeah...that wasn't going to work either. In between writing pages of that critical intro, I kept a second document open and wrote their story.
I'm an Amazon best-selling author. I've also won several awards for my books--two Laramie Awards, two Raven Awards, been a RONE nominee multiple times, a RONE finalist twice, and runner-up for the RONE in one of the most crowded and highly contested categories offered. I've also been a finalist for The Beverley.
During the time period I prefer to write in, our national psyche was recovering and healing in the aftermath of the American Civil War and the westward expansion helped to heal that psyche for some. The research I've had to do with each novel makes the history geek in me totally giddy. Those weren't pre-electric cooking and homemaking skills I was learning in my research. I was learning how my characters would have lived.
When I'm not writing, I show those Collies I first fell in love with as a child. I've bred or co-bred more than twenty champions. I also make beaded "bling" leads to sell to help support my dog show addiction/habit. Dog shows are the reason I don't have too many vices--I can't afford another habit.
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