I am a nurse by profession, an author by persistence, and a pool fanatic by inheritance. My parents loved our swimming pool, and I still love to be in water any chance I get. 
 

I learned to be a storyteller from my dad. He always told his jokes and stories with detail and vigor. This clearly rubbed off on me. As a young person I was always regaling my friends with stories of my life. It felt good when they laughed and complemented me. 
 

I started writing in college mostly because I had to write papers to pass my classes. I was never the best writer in class, but I loved the challenge of writing. I soon realized that the more I wrote the better I got. I began to relish putting my stories down and seeing where they’d go and what they meant.
 

In the new millennium, I started to write fictional short stories and then eventually started my first novel. I labored over it for a couple years and decided I needed to change directions. I realized my fiction was based a lot on my dad and family. It donned on me that I really needed to write my story.   I knew my coming-of-age was a doozy and something people might want to hear. Writing it all down and publishing it has been another crazy adventure to top it all off. 
 

In the meantime, I am a “seen it all” operating room nurse working in a level one trauma center in Portland Oregon. Home is across the state line in Vancouver Washington where my partner in life, Ray and I tend to our acre of land. Taking breaks to swim in our pool in the summer, hopefully with friends or our visiting grown daughters Emily and Julia.  We also love playing in the snow in winter and always feel grateful to live in the beauty of the pacific northwest. 
 

I still cherish visits to my hometown, Burbank and hanging with my childhood friends.