Bio

I’ve been writing stories since the third grade and completed my first “novel” in the fourth. I’ve been taking photos of people since I found my mom’s old “Brownie” camera around the same time, and I’ve been dancing since my friend Vicky and I first choreographed “How Much is that Doggie in the Window?” and had a dance-off making my sister the judge.  Then Lisa (my sister) would buy these little 79 cent books: “How to do the Hustle” and “How to do the Bus Stop.” Yep. That was about fourth grade, too. Busy year.

I am so glad video games weren’t invented until I was in high school!

I took a photography class in junior high, but other than that, I just loved taking photos of people. Everyone has a story, and the photos I take have always been meant to tell that story.

I studied writing and theater in college, where I published a short story in the UW-Milwaukee literary journal. I also wrote and produced my first full-length play Whatever Happened… to all the happy endings? under the tutelage of Fred Gaines at Lawrence University and wrote my first “real” novel under the tutelage of Shiela Cunningham based on a semester I’d spent in London.

I had several plays produced in Wisconsin, including Talking with Jacob, which garnered statewide recognition and the cover of several statewide periodicals. After College, I started directing and producing plays, where I realized most of the choreographers in Appleton, WI kind of sucked, so I started dance training.

I also produced my own adaptation of the Ray Bradbury story, “The Better Part of Wisdom” with Mr. Bradbury’s approval and input. Yep. That was kind of a high point! I wrote a column for two years in The Dancer’s Guide as well as training manuals for several dance studios in Texas. My teaching ability earned me two articles in Quality in Action, a worldwide educational magazine. More recently, I wrote a column for Out in SA. Currently, I am a writer and photographer for SA Monthly magazine and have written the cover article three months running. This month, I was also published in Woman.

For the past twenty years, I’ve worked as a dance teacher, choreographed musicals like West Side Story and helped create and coach the original Radio Disney dance team in San Antonio, TX.

More recently, I lived in Virginia on sabbatical to focus on my writing, where I taught writing workshops for both the Hampton Roads Writers and the Muse. I also taught a number of workshops for the Hampton Roads Writers conference of 2016. I have written a total of 16 novels and self-published 9 of them so far. I am now trying to find an audience for the books.

In the meantime, I teach dance and produce dance performances like Share the Beat, which most recently brought together 50 dancers from 15 different organizations.