"I was born in the small farming town of Rupert, Idaho and I loved my childhood. I learned to work hard on the family farm and later working for other farmers in the area. As a teenager, I was often seen wearing irrigation boots, chaps, and a ponytail while driving a four-wheeler. All that work moving pipe, hoeing beans, picking dirt clods off the potato harvester, and getting blistered by the baking desert heat gave me motivation to work hard in school. I received a full scholarship to Utah State University and became an Aggie! I graduated cum laude from USU with a bachelor’s in Psychology and a minor in music. I tap into this knowledge base regularly as I write.
I met my husband, Steve, at USU and after our marriage we lived in Utah in another small town. I loved it there and began attending writing conferences and workshops in the region regularly to hone my craft. In 2010 my first suspense novel was published. Wrong Number was a Whitney Award finalist and the recipient of the Outstanding Book of the Year award from the League of Utah Writers.
Since then I’ve written a dozen books, written hundreds of articles for both print and online magazines, presented at writing conferences and workshops, and collaborated with authors on anthologies and nonfiction projects.
I’m also a stay-at-home mom of five pretty cute kids. Two girls and three boys = a wild and crazy house. After the birth of our fifth child, I finally convinced my husband to look into moving back to Idaho so we could have a little more space to raise our family. I’m thrilled to be a farm girl again, living on a few acres with over 40 chickens, several cats, and hopefully a dog soon!
My husband tells me that I have too many interests and he is right. I enjoy gardening, chicken herding, playing the piano, singing, composing music, running, yoga, oil painting, making handmade cards, crocheting, and cooking. I love laughing with my family and looking out the window at the sun setting over hundreds of acres of farm land. Idaho has the most beautiful sunsets!"