I'm the oldest of six kids in a military family and remember having a happy and change-filled childhood. My father was stationed in Yokohama, Japan, where he met my mother. I was 1-1/2 years old when we moved from Japan to America, and by the time I was fifteen, I had lived in six different states as well as overseas in Bogota, Columbia. I began reading stories to my younger sisters and brother shortly after I learned to read. Those were fun times for me, happy memories.
When I was fifteen, dad was stationed at Kirtland Air Force Base East in Albuquerque, NM, where I formed a life-long interest in Native Southwestern cultures. I graduated from the University of New Mexico with a major in anthropology, which opened up the opportunity to learn about a myriad of different civilizations and cultures. However, my career field ended up being real estate property management, managing and leasing shopping centers, office buildings and apartment buildings in NM, Texas and Arizona for forty-five years.
For twenty years my biggest interest was flying my hot air balloon. Then agility training my miniature long hair dachshund,Mr. Bojangles, replaced ballooning. This experience generated the "girl and her dog" bond prevalent in my Emerson and Lucky series. Of course, I love to read and am usually reading two books at a time. I also love to travel and have had the good fortune to visit archaeological sites in Peru, Egypt, England, and Ireland. I am a past board member for Hope Works, which provides services for Albuquerque's homeless population, and I currently volunteer for New Mexico Dachshund Rescue.
When I was fifteen, dad was stationed at Kirtland Air Force Base East in Albuquerque, NM, where I formed a life-long interest in Native Southwestern cultures. I graduated from the University of New Mexico with a major in anthropology, which opened up the opportunity to learn about a myriad of different civilizations and cultures. However, my career field ended up being real estate property management, managing and leasing shopping centers, office buildings and apartment buildings in NM, Texas and Arizona for forty-five years.
For twenty years my biggest interest was flying my hot air balloon. Then agility training my miniature long hair dachshund,Mr. Bojangles, replaced ballooning. This experience generated the "girl and her dog" bond prevalent in my Emerson and Lucky series. Of course, I love to read and am usually reading two books at a time. I also love to travel and have had the good fortune to visit archaeological sites in Peru, Egypt, England, and Ireland. I am a past board member for Hope Works, which provides services for Albuquerque's homeless population, and I currently volunteer for New Mexico Dachshund Rescue.
Writing
The enduring love throughout my life has been writing. I write children's fiction and young adult fiction because I feel I have a natural affinity for this genre, and because, like many adults, I'll always be a child at heart. My early life was all about change because my family moved so much. We never knew if we would like our new home or our new school, or who our friends would be, or even if we'd make any friends. So, I decided to write about the different changes and choices kids face and how they learn to deal with them.
Stranded at Sheep Camp is my first published work followed by two sequels, Danger at the Rodeo and Badge of Honor. I'm currently revising the first draft of a young adult novel set in Amsterdam in 1944. When Hannah's father is condemned to a German concentration camp, she must choose between coping with Nazi oppression and fearing the consequences of their attention, and joining a resistance group to fight back - knowing she may pay for her rebellion with her life.
Stranded at Sheep Camp is my first published work followed by two sequels, Danger at the Rodeo and Badge of Honor. I'm currently revising the first draft of a young adult novel set in Amsterdam in 1944. When Hannah's father is condemned to a German concentration camp, she must choose between coping with Nazi oppression and fearing the consequences of their attention, and joining a resistance group to fight back - knowing she may pay for her rebellion with her life.
Questions and Answers
1. When did you start writing? In third grade. I wrote a poem about a pumpkin who danced at Halloween. It wasn't very good.
2. Do you write other stories? Yes. a chapter book for early readers about a Puerto Rican coqui and his amazing adventures, several picture books, one which Mr. Bojangles (miniature long hair dachshund) stows away on my hot air balloon, and several short stories for adults. None of these are ready for publication. Presently, I'm revisiting and editing my first young adult novel.
3. Do you ever get frustrated? Yes, all the time. It's normal and natural when you want to be sure everything is written just right.
4. Does your brain ever shut down when you're writing? Yes. We call it "writer's block," when you can't figure out what needs to happen next to your characters. Or when you find your story is changing while you write it, and now you have to figure out a different ending.
5. What do you do when you get writer's block? The same thing I do when I'm frustrated. I play with my dogs or take them for a walk. It really helps! The important thing is not to worry when this happens to you. It happens to all writers. When your mind is fresh and rested, your story will come.
6. How long does it take to write a chapter? The first rough draft will take four to six hours, and then I edit and revise or rewrite it three or four times before I present it to my two critique groups. After I insert and make the changes they suggest, I revise again. Easily sixteen hours per chapter -- some are longer and more complex than others and need more of my time.
7. Why did you write about Emerson and Lucky? Because I just love stories about kids and their dogs. Because we learn from our dogs, just like they learn from us. Because I love the close bond my dogs share with me. Because I think life is richer when adults and kids have a pet. Mine sure is!
8. Why is the dog in your story a dachshund? Because I share my home with dachshunds now. They are challenging, fun, sweet and feisty little dogs. Plus, they can sit on my lap while I read. I was able to write Lucky's character by watching my dogs play, eat, dig and guard the back yard.
9. Why did you write the Emerson and Lucky series? Like a lot of Native American kids raised in a city, Emerson knows nothing about his Navajo mother's culture. He's forced to deal with unwanted changes in his life, the biggest one being sent to a strange culture with no friends, and where nothing makes sense to him. I'm hoping my story will increase interest in all kids to learn about different cultures.
10. Why is Emerson a military "kid" whose father is deployed to Afghanistan? I wanted to give Emerson a background with which I was familiar, since my father was a career Army officer and served one tour in Korea and two tours in VietNam in the 1960's. The fear a child experiences when a father or mother is deployed to an active war zone is very real and ever-present, and Emerson battles this fear in each of my books.
2. Do you write other stories? Yes. a chapter book for early readers about a Puerto Rican coqui and his amazing adventures, several picture books, one which Mr. Bojangles (miniature long hair dachshund) stows away on my hot air balloon, and several short stories for adults. None of these are ready for publication. Presently, I'm revisiting and editing my first young adult novel.
3. Do you ever get frustrated? Yes, all the time. It's normal and natural when you want to be sure everything is written just right.
4. Does your brain ever shut down when you're writing? Yes. We call it "writer's block," when you can't figure out what needs to happen next to your characters. Or when you find your story is changing while you write it, and now you have to figure out a different ending.
5. What do you do when you get writer's block? The same thing I do when I'm frustrated. I play with my dogs or take them for a walk. It really helps! The important thing is not to worry when this happens to you. It happens to all writers. When your mind is fresh and rested, your story will come.
6. How long does it take to write a chapter? The first rough draft will take four to six hours, and then I edit and revise or rewrite it three or four times before I present it to my two critique groups. After I insert and make the changes they suggest, I revise again. Easily sixteen hours per chapter -- some are longer and more complex than others and need more of my time.
7. Why did you write about Emerson and Lucky? Because I just love stories about kids and their dogs. Because we learn from our dogs, just like they learn from us. Because I love the close bond my dogs share with me. Because I think life is richer when adults and kids have a pet. Mine sure is!
8. Why is the dog in your story a dachshund? Because I share my home with dachshunds now. They are challenging, fun, sweet and feisty little dogs. Plus, they can sit on my lap while I read. I was able to write Lucky's character by watching my dogs play, eat, dig and guard the back yard.
9. Why did you write the Emerson and Lucky series? Like a lot of Native American kids raised in a city, Emerson knows nothing about his Navajo mother's culture. He's forced to deal with unwanted changes in his life, the biggest one being sent to a strange culture with no friends, and where nothing makes sense to him. I'm hoping my story will increase interest in all kids to learn about different cultures.
10. Why is Emerson a military "kid" whose father is deployed to Afghanistan? I wanted to give Emerson a background with which I was familiar, since my father was a career Army officer and served one tour in Korea and two tours in VietNam in the 1960's. The fear a child experiences when a father or mother is deployed to an active war zone is very real and ever-present, and Emerson battles this fear in each of my books.