I write novels, short stories, and plays. I love the worlds I can create with words. It’s always a surprise to discover the lives of the people in these worlds, and I’m grateful to lose myself in the mystery of their stories.

My first book, a choral novel called Riversbend Elegy, for saxophone, harp, and seven guns, will soon be ready for publication. It’s a choral novel, an ensemble of voices lost in private grief, public conflict, and a few blind prayers. This book was first completed under the title The Riversbend Cycle in 2007. One of the chapters of this novel was published in the Winter 2007 issue of Folio: A Literary Journal at American University.

I’ve recently completed a manuscript for a seven-part novel re-visiting the Riversbend Elegy family. Riversbend Jazz, for saxophone, bass fiddle, and claw hammer is set in 2020 America, and the story follows this politically-diverse extended family as they live and love and fight their way through that history-making year.

My third novel, Flying Through The Air With No Particular Ease, is percolating far along in first draft form for now. This story is drawing me into the hearts of three sisters who manage their tough lives with the aplomb of circus performers.

Through my indie publishing venture, Blue Fern Press, I published a book of microfiction called Between Blinks, artfully short stories. It’s a collection of over 300 quick tales, each complete and unique, within the length of an old-style tweet. This book is now available on Amazon in paperback or kindle ebook.

I’m an MBC thriver, PNET survivor, DID abider, and I have astrocytomas in both of my eyes. That diagnostic mumbo-jumbo just means I’ve had a tough row to hoe. I have some grit in my teeth, but it doesn’t stop me grinning.

I share my life with a good man and a bad dog. I’m retired from a long string of workaday jobs, pretty much anything a woman can (legally) do and still be called a girl. As a hobby, I make a practice of choosing hope as often as I can. I see it as a form of strength training. I grew up in the Midwest, raised by Southern parents. I now make my home in King City, Oregon, where life is greener than green.