I grew up in Southern California with an avocado tree in the backyard and a mother who didn’t mind me making messes and getting dirty every single day. My sister and I would sit in the branches of that tree and pretend we were pirates and princesses, spies and space explorers, for hours on end, coming indoors only after it had grown dark and the bats came out to dip and dive at the mosquitoes that bit our dirty legs.
I’ve never grown tired of pretending – making up stories to amuse myself, and later my children, and then my students. All my life I’ve had the privilege to work and play with children. The things they say, notice, wonder, fear, obsess over, detest, and love become the building blocks of my stories – different, but still real.
Together with my agent, Kaitlyn Sanchez, at Bradford Literary Agency, I hope to soon be able to put those stories into the hands of children who may recognize themselves or others like them within the pages.
I live in a suburb of Seattle, WA with my husband. When I’m not writing, I enjoy gardening, cooking way too much food, walking in the woods, painting, and, of course, reading.