I was born into a family of bookworms who happily introduced me to all kinds of books—and then I had terrific teachers who encouraged me not only to read, but to write. Books opened up entire new worlds for me, and when I was growing up I would rather read than do anything in the world. The Summer of Reading happened when our television broke and there was a family reading marathon. The best summer EVER. I read historical and modern romances, mysteries, thrillers, fantasy, historical fiction, westerns, and the occasional horror. Fantasy, with its wonderful worlds and creatures and magic, captured my heart. My love of words developed naturally into a desire to put my own on paper. I started with (bad) poetry, then leaped into novel-writing. There were quite a few unfinished beginnings lying around before finishing my first (unpublished) novel proved to me that I could really do it and… here I am! I am published—and I have several more books in progress.