When I was four years old, I told my mother I was going to be a writer. So far, I've been on track. My senior year of high school, I landed a job writing business bios for a local newspaper. Then I headed off to Michigan State University (MSU) and majored in English and Telecommuncation. At MSU, I wrote and copy edited for newspaper and television, and I also mentored with poet
Diane Wakoski, who was key to my creative growth. After college, I went on to write for marketing and advertising, and then decided to pursue a Master's in Teaching English as a Second Language through Bowling Green State University (BSGU). I taught writing and language to some amazing students at BGSU, Wayne State University, and Oakland Community College. During my teaching years, I had my first son and started writing poems and stories for him, which led me to take classes through the
Institute of Children's Literature. Eventually, I started publishing stories and articles and was honored to win the Writer's Digest National Competition for the Children's/YA category in 2011. Also, in 2011, I won the HUNGER MOUNTAIN Katherine Paterson Prize for a short story in verse titled "
Him," on which my novel,
RIPPLE, published in September 2016, is based. My short stories have also appeared on the online journal the
Young Adult Review Network (YARN) and in
SPIDER magazine. I'm a member of the
Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) as well as a member of the
Young Adult chapter Romance Writer's of America (YARWA). I live in Michigan with my husband and two sons.
