I live with my husband in California’s gold country in the home in which we raised our two sons. A fifth-generation Californian, I ended up in the land of rolling hills and oak trees after spending my youth in two very different valleys – San Fernando and Silicon. The Southern California of my childhood was peopled with family who built bungalows, who worked as actors and extras in movies with casts of a thousand, and who sat on their porches soaking in sunshine and the scent of citrus blossoms. The Santa Clara Valley (yet to be named for the computer industry) of my teens and twenties was at that time an emerald green land, heady with blossoms of its own. When the last of the cherries and apricots fell to innovations charged with global-scale change, we wished well the haunts of our youth, packed up our sons, and made our way east to the haunts of the original 49ers.
I received my B.A. in English and K-8 Teaching Credential from San Jose State University, and M.A. in Writing and Secondary Teaching Credential from Sacramento State University. I taught high school literature and composition as well as elementary school.
Never straying far from my writing life, I published personal essays in newspapers and magazines over the years, and with my Sydney Roberts series, I was delighted to delve into the world of fiction writing.
My latest writing venture, To Where the Sun Sets, combines my passions for genealogy research, storytelling, and teaching. As I said on the Home page, the book is also the centerpiece for my mission – to encourage you to find and tell your own stories.