Back then

I grew up in Montana, the fourth generation to live on the family cattle ranch. My childhood was spent playing in ancient barns and bunkhouses, climbing haystacks and daydreaming by the banks of Rock Creek.

When I was seventeen, I boarded my first airplane to be an exchange student in crowded, urban Osaka, Japan. Everything was upside down and sideways from all I’d known – the language, the food (fish, fish, fish!), looming statues of Buddha and subway trains packed to the gills. The doors of my mind were blasted wide open.

After graduating from the University of Montana, I spent several years living out of a suitcase while traveling with the international, educational organization, Up with People. We traipsed across the Arctic Circle in the dead of winter, performed in hot, smelly bullrings in Mexico, sang with gospel choirs in Mississippi, and did community service everywhere we went.

Right Now

I live with my husband, two children, and one very excitable dog in Colorado, where we hear coyotes caterwaul on a nightly basis. I write young adult fiction and rely heavily on music, nature, and copious cups of coffee for inspiration.