About Me
I was born with a GO gene--I looked across the wide open vistas of the Texas Panhandle, my birthplace, and I yearned to discover what lay beyond the horizon. I wanted to go anywhere and everywhere. Through the wonder of books, I traveled around the world and across the centuries before I became a teenager.
At the age of nineteen I took a break from my college education to go with three friends on a backpacking trip through Europe. That incredible experience instilled in me a thirst to see the world. But I also love learning--I returned to school and earned a bachelor's and a master's degree from West Texas State University (now West Texas A&M). During my college years I spent a summer in Oxford, England, doing graduate coursework. I've been a teacher, a bookseller, and a college admissions receptionist, and now I'm thrilled to work as a writer.
Several years ago I was taking a music appreciation course just for fun and walked out of the classroom one day with my head abuzz. The instructor told us that in the early eighteenth century, the best orchestra in all of Europe was one in Venice, Italy, composed entirely of females, most of them orphaned or abandoned as babies. The famed composer Antonio Vivaldi directed this unique ensemble at the Ospedale della Pieta', and Vivaldi was a Catholic priest! As a lifelong Catholic, I was very surprised I had never heard this before.
This intriguing bit of history concerning Vivaldi and the Ospedale della Pieta' gripped my curiosity and wouldn't let go. I researched, read, and-- yes-- visited Venice to find out more. As I learned more about these mysterious girls, a story started spinning in my imagination. Thus the idea for Isabella was born. I enrolled in The Writers' Loft at Middle Tennessee State University to learn more about the craft of novel writing, and I joined the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators to build a professional network. With encouragement and guidance from others, especially writers, Isabella came to life!
I live now in the rolling hills of Middle Tennessee outside Nashville with my awesome husband and loyal canine kid. I have three grown human kids (yes, they're awesome too) and four grandchildren ("awesome" goes without saying!). I love to lose myself in a good story, and I'm now writing my next book--another historical novel that deals with a fascinating quirk of history. I'm also scheming and dreaming about my next trip to Italy!
At the age of nineteen I took a break from my college education to go with three friends on a backpacking trip through Europe. That incredible experience instilled in me a thirst to see the world. But I also love learning--I returned to school and earned a bachelor's and a master's degree from West Texas State University (now West Texas A&M). During my college years I spent a summer in Oxford, England, doing graduate coursework. I've been a teacher, a bookseller, and a college admissions receptionist, and now I'm thrilled to work as a writer.
Several years ago I was taking a music appreciation course just for fun and walked out of the classroom one day with my head abuzz. The instructor told us that in the early eighteenth century, the best orchestra in all of Europe was one in Venice, Italy, composed entirely of females, most of them orphaned or abandoned as babies. The famed composer Antonio Vivaldi directed this unique ensemble at the Ospedale della Pieta', and Vivaldi was a Catholic priest! As a lifelong Catholic, I was very surprised I had never heard this before.
This intriguing bit of history concerning Vivaldi and the Ospedale della Pieta' gripped my curiosity and wouldn't let go. I researched, read, and-- yes-- visited Venice to find out more. As I learned more about these mysterious girls, a story started spinning in my imagination. Thus the idea for Isabella was born. I enrolled in The Writers' Loft at Middle Tennessee State University to learn more about the craft of novel writing, and I joined the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators to build a professional network. With encouragement and guidance from others, especially writers, Isabella came to life!
I live now in the rolling hills of Middle Tennessee outside Nashville with my awesome husband and loyal canine kid. I have three grown human kids (yes, they're awesome too) and four grandchildren ("awesome" goes without saying!). I love to lose myself in a good story, and I'm now writing my next book--another historical novel that deals with a fascinating quirk of history. I'm also scheming and dreaming about my next trip to Italy!
On a canal in Venice
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On the island of Burano, outside Venice
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With daughter Claire on a gondola ride through the canals of Venice
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In the museum at the Ospedale della Pieta'
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