Biography

I am the author of Less Dead, my debut mystery, being released by L & L Dreamspell on September 6, 2008.

I have been writing fiction most of my life. In 2000 I was hired by Bayou Country Productions to rewrite a script about the 1900 Galveston Storm, which they subsequently optioned and renewed for three consecutive years. The company also hired me to write a second screenplay about the Storm and between the two, the research took at least six months. I followed this with a children's screenplay. My first script with a co-writer made the short list in the Empire Screenwriting Contest in California. I also wrote self-help articles for San Francisco area's Single Again Magazine. My short stories and novels have won awards in various contests.

I studied screenwriting under Richard Walters at UCLA, took fiction and non-fiction classes at USC and Rice University, and majored in journalism at Chaffey Community College. I also took a course in screenwriting with studio professionals at Beyond Baroque in Venice, California. As a playwright, I co-wrote, directed and acted in a one-act play produced at Country Playhouse. What fun!

I was born in a small town in North Dakota but raised in Los Angeles and San Francisco. From there I lived in a variety of places – New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Philadelphia, six cities in Florida, and six months in Baja California before returning to California and finally moving to Texas in 1981.

To subsidize my writing and ex-husbands, and to gain research, I found work as a waitress, bookkeeper, go-go dancer, car salesperson, retail salesperson, a psychiatric assistant, legal assistant, and executive secretary in the oil and gas field. I plan to write full time.

I have served two wonderful years as chapter president of Mystery Writers of America, Southwest, and I’m currently treasurer and newsletter editor. I am also a member of Sisters-In-Crime, The Final Twist.