I was born March 23, 1973 (for those of you who want to send gifts) in the middle of a cornfield in Central Illinois. I was born to a magazine-loving mother (like, I’m talking her house should be declared a fire hazard) and a speed-reading-novel-loving father. The result, ME, is someone who is obsessed with the written word (well, except any kind of electronics manual, just on principle). As best as I can remember this is how it all started. Disclaimer: If you were born in the 90’s, you might have to Google some of this stuff.

The 80’s began as a latex blur. Smurfs, Strawberry Shortcake dolls, Cabbage Patch Kids, and Barbie’s consumed me. When I found the time to read it was usually Pippi Longstocking or the latest Beverly Cleary novel. My dolls loved it when I read aloud to them!

The next few years were dominated by my intense desire to become a zookeeper. I would haul around my green plastic tote that held my prized National Geographic Wildlife Cards. Playtime was spent categorizing my Care Bears into groups of endangered species. As soon as I figured out that picking up poo would be a job requirement I was out of the zookeeper business. Around this time I loved getting my Highlights magazine each month and I was discovering those awesome choose-your-own-adventure books. I hear those are going to make a comeback soon!

Then I got chicken pox! This was the beginning of my craft phase. There wasn’t a Shrinky Dink, sun catcher, or homemade potholder that was safe. My friends and I even made purses out of craft hoops and placemats; it was a scary time in my childhood! But it was also when I discovered Judy Blume. Ah, Judy. Who doesn’t love Judy? I owe so much of my love of books to her. I started out with Super Fudge, Freckle Juice, and eventually graduated to the classic Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

As a tween, I was lucky to have an awesome group of girls to have weekly slumber parties with. I’m proud to say that I’m still friends with almost all of them to this day. We would have beauty pageants, make slam books, crowd our Keds with tons of friendship pins, and when the first girl fell asleep we tried our best to make her pee herself by putting her hands and feet in warm water! I drooled over the two Corey’s in Tiger Beat and the twins of Sweet Valley High were my idols.

I had a pretty charmed high school experience. My days were dominated by boys, homework, an after-school job at the local hardware store, and more boys. Sadly, I don’t remember reading more than what was actually required for school and Sassy magazine. I spent hours wrapping and rewrapping those previously-mentioned boys class rings with angora to coordinate my outfits and spraying my bangs with enough Aqua Net to be personally responsible for the hole in the ozone layer. I guess that didn’t leave much time for books. Some of my favorite high school memories are dancing with my friends at our homecoming and prom dances. Our boyfriends came and went, but we all stuck together! This is a picture from my junior prom (I’m in purple) with my friend Tonya. How about that necklace? I was quite the accessory queen back then.

College at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale was a little more of the same except it cost my parents a lot more! Lots of boys, not too much time for books. I did have a mild obsession with reading the campus newspaper with my morning Coke though.

Like most people when I finally went to work for real I didn’t have a clue what I truly wanted to do. I moved to Colorado for a few years, didn’t find what I was looking for, and moved back to Illinois. I spent more hours than I care to remember trapped in a cubicle working various customer service jobs, and even worked as a bartender briefly. Nothing was working quite right and I wasn’t particularly happy. Then something happened.

Just like the ending of an incredible novel when all the pieces start to fall into place, my life started falling into place. I met the cutest boy and we got married. We were perfect for each other. He didn’t even mind that I would sometimes leave the bedside lamp on for hours while getting caught up in a novel. Then we had our first son. He was the perfect combination of both of us. I had never met a more perfect person in my whole life. I wanted to be with him all of the time. I tried to think of a career I could have that would give me the freedom to be with my son but still work. I started reading voraciously again and wrote my first novel. I got several positive rejections, wrote more, and got better. I joined Romance Writers of America, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and found myself some awesome critique partners.

Our second son was born and along with his seriously chubby cheeks he brought good luck. I finished my second young adult novel and once I started submitting it, it instantly started getting agent interest. I won first place in the NTRWA Great Expectations Contest and got my DREAM AGENT! She quickly sold my novel and a sequel to the Penguin Imprint/Berkley Jam.

I’m currently working on several other young adult novels and hope to someday write adult books also. So that’s my story. It’s far from perfect and I’m still adding chapters, but I believe that everyone has a soul mate and a dream job and I wish you luck finding your own story.