I grew up dancing and acting on New England stages. I honestly can’t remember a time when I wasn’t taking dance lessons. I loved books about performers, going to see plays and, best of all, being in shows. Ballet was my favorite thing, but I was also in a choir and did musicals. My friends and I even created our own theatre company, for which I wrote, composed and choreographed productions.
I went to Georgetown University in Washington, DC, where I studied playwriting, joined a modern dance company, and acted in and choreographed shows. After I finished my BA in English, got a job at the Kennedy Center. I worked in the Theater for Young People where I met amazing directors and arts educators, and had the opportunity to choreograph a few shows. I left the Kennedy Center to attend New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where I earned an MA in Performance Studies. And I married my college sweetheart (see him below in HOW TO WRITE A KISSING SCENE).
An ad in the New York Times (yes, an actual print newspaper ad) lead to a job at Random House Children’s Publishing. Reading through the children’s backlist and meeting incredible authors (like Ellen Hopkins), inspired me to focus on fiction writing. I joined a critique group. Then, I had a baby. I left full-time work for freelancing and had another baby. I wrote educational books under a pseudonym and marketing materials for other peoples’ books. My own manuscripts included a boxcar mystery, a middle-grade fantasy, and a very bad YA about gymnasts. I had a third baby. Our family moved to the Pacific Northwest, and I had one more baby. (They’re all boys!)
Through all the schools, shows, jobs and kids, I wrote. I took classes in creative writing and playwriting. I went to conferences and learned from writers, editors and agents. I’m skipping a few steps here about rejection letters, querying agents (giant stomach ache), going on submission and meeting my awesome editor. I’ll share those stories another day. Meanwhile, enjoy the beautiful trailer for my first novel, AUDITION.
As my boys grow, I continue to write almost every day, and still choreograph the occasional musical. After my second verse novel, THE SOUND OF LETTING GO, was published, I went back to work for a few years. It was a nice change. I seriously improved my technology skills, and learned to love Audible during my commute. As the 2020 pandemic has changed so many of us, it inspired me to refocus my time and energy on my family and my own creative work. I feel very lucky to be able to make this decision.
It is my dream for my kids (and for everyone in this world, including you) to be lucky enough to find something they love to do and the time and opportunity to do it.