Ever since I was a tulip in the second grade spring pageant, I have been in love with theatre. And ever since I wrote the stirring thriller, “The Witch’s Revenge.” in the fourth grade, I have been a writer. 
These were tough beginnings. The other tulip was sick that night and moments before curtain time I learned I had to do both our lines. And I weathered the agonizing butterflies of seeing “The Witch’s Revenge” actually produced as a puppet play. But these early trials made me resilient. Think rubber ball.
In my pre-teen years I wrote short stories about fairies and learned to play the piano accordion. My father was a construction engineer; we moved a lot. The accordion was easier to move than a piano. As a teenager I was in the class plays and wrote pep skits. Pep skits taught me about formula writing–our team always had to trounce the opponents. In college I was in a lot of plays, wrote poetry, edited the college newspaper, and got engaged 16 times.
I have an MFA in theatre and English. I’m a former member of Sisters In Crime and former Regional Vice-president of Literary Managers & Dramaturgs of the Americas. I’m the founder of the Rochester Playwright Festival and Minnesota Writers’ Alliance. I direct community theatre and still write—novels, plays, humor columns. I live with two cats who are exasperating and a husband who remains exciting and interesting after many years of marriage.