My inspiration comes from my roots in West Virginia and my love of the mountains, rivers, and stories of the people who worked and lived there. My writing is influenced by my family history of hardworking people, struggling to build lives with their hands and their hearts, but never giving up their dreams.

I remember my grandfather entertaining everyone with his stories. He died when I was eleven, so I don't recall many of the specifics, but in the true storytelling tradition his tales are retold at every family gathering.

Great stories never die. And people live on in the telling.

First There is a River--my first book coming out in 2007--is set aboard a majestic riverboat in 1900. My interest in life on the river was inspired by my great-grandmother who worked as a cook aboard a riverboat. Old family photos of her and the crew of the J.D. Ayres were the way I met and got to know her. Those photographs, including all the earnest faces from the past peering into the camera lens, fascinated me.

My fictional riverboat, The Spirit of the River was born, and before I knew it, characters came aboard to live and work and travel up and down the river. The Spirit and her crew took on a life of its own. I followed these people into their imaginary existence and discovered suspense, mystery, romance, intrigue, and more truth than I have ever found in the real world.

I had no choice but to listen, follow, and record their adventures.

I write from a log home in the woods of Wisconsin that I share with my husband, Rob, and our two cats, Buster and Joe. I am a member of several writing associations, including the International Women's Writing Guild, Mystery Writers of America, and Romance Writers of America.