I live in beautiful Colorado with my 4 dogs who make me laugh every day. Though I started writing at 7 years old, it wasn’t children’s books I started with. I started with poetry about peace, and love as in the 70’s that was the current theme. I then started writing down ideas of kid’s stories but never really completed many of them. Then as I reached adolescence, my stories became focused on romance, but I never attempted to publish them. My love for poetry continued but I never felt compelled to publish any. After getting married and having a child of my own, the children’s story ideas started flooding my head. I constantly wrote idea after idea. My first completed chapter book was my first published book, The Whimsical Witch. This book is actual a book series and book 2 is due to be published in 2027.
I like my writing to be fun and full of adventure, humor and learning. I like to portray good values and kindness in my books. There is ALWAYS a lesson of some kind. My hope when a child reads my books they will love it enough, that they will want to read them again and again. I loved being read to growing up and I have fond memories of my parents reading my favorites over and over. I carried that love for books and reading to my children. We’d go to the library and come out with stacks and stacks of books. But they wouldn’t even last a week!
I have a special place in my heart for libraries, as I feel everyone has the opportunity to read without having to pay to read. I hope someday my books will be available in libraries.
My chapter books are a lot of fun to read. I never know where my story is going to go when I sit down to type. Sometimes I have an idea, but twists and turns happen and new ideas come up. In Chapter 6 of my upcoming book, I came to a crossroads and had to make a decision. Should the character stay a mouse for most of the book, or should she switch back now? When I decided to switch her back in this chapter, I started planning where chapter 7 could go. What I plan in my head, is not always where my fingers take the story. Its almost like reading a book because I never know what my fingers will type next. I love to leave cliff hangers at the end of my chapters. That’s what makes the reader want to read on. I remember reading when I was young. Getting so lost in a book that I would stay up all night reading, because I HAD to know what was going to happen next. Before I know it, the book would be done and so would the night. That’s the kind of excitement I try to bring to my readers.
