About me:
I am an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher and freelance writer.
Since graduating from the University of Minnesota with my M.Ed. in Second
Languages and Cultures in 1995, I have been teaching the idiosyncrasies of
the English language to all ages. In 2001, I finished my M.F.A.
program at Minnesota State University, Mankato, by reading from my
thesis, a novel called Secondhand. During the program, I also completed
several essays that eventually came together as a memoir manuscript called
The Missing Man.
After publishing several essays, reviews, profiles, and interviews, I have
recently turned more of my attention to writing books for the education
market. I like combining my education and writing expertise to
produce reading material for children. I continue to work on fictional
children's stories, my novel and memoir, and various other projects.
Writer Reality Check:
I wrote my first education book about the life cycle of spiders, completed in January 2003. After the ISBN had been assigned to the book but before it was published, the publisher went bankrupt. I have been on Amazon.com all this time for a book that doesn't exist.
What I also enjoy/hobbies:
- Reading, of course! My top shelf books include: Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden; In the Wilderness by Kim Barnes; House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III; The Bean Trees and The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver; The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan; The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd; The Color of Water by James McBride; and Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, which I first read, I'm proud to say, in 7th grade
- scrapbooking (I'm years behind for my twins' books)
- dancing--jazz, hip hop, lyrical, and tap if forced
- traveling anywhere--I've lived in Mexico, Italy, and Japan; August 2006, I went to Spain for a wedding
- watching my son play hockey; my daughter, dance
- getting away--far or near--with my husband
This photo is from my first of five book signings. At the Book Warehouse
in Medford, Minnesota, on 10.11.08, I sold more The Story of the
Minnesota Wild books than I did at a Wild home hockey game!
