About

I live in a house on a rocky beach on Bainbridge Island, WA, with my wonderful husband Steve and my perfect fuzzy dog Scout. The other dog in the photo on my home page is my friend’s golden retriever, Jake, who always likes to get in on the action. Believe me, we tried to lure him away with a biscuit, but he was having none of it. The more the merrier, I say. When I’m not on Bainbridge Island, I spend a lot of time in my home-away-from-home, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

When my sons Jordan and Dylan were young, I wrote and designed countless interactive computer games. Okay, maybe not countless, but at least 50. The games featured original characters such as Putt-Putt and Fatty Bear for Humongous Entertainment, and Huggly for Scholastic; plus many characters who you probably know and may even love as much as I do – Madeline, Little Bear, Harry Potter, The Little Mermaid, Clifford, SpongeBob, and Mr. Potato Head – and lots of others that frankly, I’ve lost track of. I also wrote a trio of picture books based on Putt-Putt (the little purple car, not the mini-golf game) and scripts for animated children’s TV shows such as Dragon Tales for PBS. (For years my boys thought I was the “cool mom” until they finally outgrew my games and TV shows.)

When they grew up and moved off to college, it was time for me to mature, too, at least beyond preschool. Without question, I knew I had to write middle grade fiction. Why? Because, truth be told, I’ve always been a sucker for a happy ending.