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About me
I grew up in Gilbert Plains, Manitoba in the heartland of Canada. Even though my father was a teacher and not a farmer, we lived on a quarter section farm just a few miles from town. I always loved the wide open spaces, vast blue skies and waving grain fields on the prairies that are vividly portrayed in my novels. After high school, I attended the University of Manitoba, intending to get a teaching degree, but after two years, I returned to my home town and married my husband, Wayne. Knowing next to nothing about farming, I settled down to a busy career as a partner in our farm operation. We raised three children and I was mostly a full-time mom until our youngest child started school. I worked part-time at our local newspaper, doing everything from covering local news events to photography and layout, as well as writing freelance for regional newspapers. I served as a school trustee for sixteen years and was a member of three provincial agriculture boards.
In 2007, I decided to return to university full-time to finish my Arts degree after a thirty year hiatus. In my creative writing class, my classmates chose my short story, Fence Lines, to be published in a year-end collection. They were interested in my main character, Caroline Webb, and wanted to know more about her. She was so completely alive in my mind, I knew she had a much bigger story to tell. Thus began my novel, A Strange Kind of Comfort. I enrolled in Humber College's Creative Writing Program, working with renowned Canadian writer, Sandra Birdsell, and finished a first draft.
I achieved a life-long dream when Dundurn Press, Toronto, Ontario, accepted the novel for publication in October, 2018. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed bringing my characters to life.
In addition to writing, I love garden design, exploring new countries and cultures with my awesome husband, and spending as much time as possible with our children and grandchildren.
Wayne and I live along the picturesque Valley River. The photo on the homepage is the view that gives me inspiration as I write.