grew up in Utah and Arizona and was the eldest of nine children, constantly changing diapers, feeding babies and playing with a lot of siblings. My mother had little time to read to us, but when she was ordered to stay in bed while pregnant with the triplets she read us the book Heidi. I loved it and it is still about my favorite. So much so that I named the first of my three daughters Heidi.

In high school I took a creative writing class and it was then that I first learned that I enjoyed writing. I liked making things up. My daughters and siblings will tell you I often embellish stories and as a writer I get paid for it. It’s fun!

When my children were well settled in school I began writing, selling short pieces to children’s magazines and working as a free-lance writer for my local paper in Pacific Palisades, CA. I eventually enrolled at Vermont College to pursue an MFA. There I met “My People,” a 100 plus other writers who would rather email than phone, who liked to hole up and hide away writing about a made up world, and would rather read than go out to a party. I found my voice in that wonderful environment and my creative thesis became my first published novel, Converting Kate, which garnered the following accolades: a 2008 ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a Kliatt: Editors' Choice, a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age, and a CBC Notable Book.

In addition to working on several different writing projects, I currently team teach “Writing the Middle Grade and Young Adult Novel” at The Writer’s Center (www.writer.org).

I love reading books, editing them, and writing them. In fact, I love books so much that when I step into a bookstore or library I have the same reoccurring hopeful vision. I imagine the doors locking and everyone disappearing but me. I picture myself cozying up in a comfy padded chair, an endless supply of ginger crisp apples at my reach, a working water fountain, and every lovely, wonderful, unread book waiting there just for me!