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 not a White Sox fan and I refuse to discuss politics. Some things are much better left unsaid. 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.
By the time I was legally an adult (I refuse to grow up), I couldn't wait to get out of Dodge, so to speak. I moved first to the wilds of central Wisconsin and then to south central Indiana to the middle of a corn field, and finally to the backwoods of central Tennessee where I reside with Ken. He's my biggest supporter. All those before electricity cooking and homemaking skills I taught myself might come in handy here as often as the power goes out and stays out. Just a minor drawback to living in the middle of an oak forest in a small, rural area.
I'm a hybrid, in that I'm published both traditionally and as an indie self-published author. 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.
All of my published novels are western historical romances. My traditionally published romances are set in/around a little town called Federal, in the Wyoming Territory. Federal was actually a town at one time, even though I'm fairly certain I brought it into being before it ever was a "town". Federal still shows up on the state maps handed out by the Tourism Commission in Wyoming. However, Federal isn't even a wide spot in the road anymore. Other than a small wooden sign denoting "Federal" on a spur of the Burlington-Northern Railroad line, there isn't much left.
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 thirty 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.
By the time I was legally an adult (I refuse to grow up), I couldn't wait to get out of Dodge, so to speak. I moved first to the wilds of central Wisconsin and then to south central Indiana to the middle of a corn field, and finally to the backwoods of central Tennessee where I reside with Ken. He's my biggest supporter. All those before electricity cooking and homemaking skills I taught myself might come in handy here as often as the power goes out and stays out. Just a minor drawback to living in the middle of an oak forest in a small, rural area.
I'm a hybrid, in that I'm published both traditionally and as an indie self-published author. 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.
All of my published novels are western historical romances. My traditionally published romances are set in/around a little town called Federal, in the Wyoming Territory. Federal was actually a town at one time, even though I'm fairly certain I brought it into being before it ever was a "town". Federal still shows up on the state maps handed out by the Tourism Commission in Wyoming. However, Federal isn't even a wide spot in the road anymore. Other than a small wooden sign denoting "Federal" on a spur of the Burlington-Northern Railroad line, there isn't much left.
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 thirty 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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