I'm a native of Indianapolis who is old enough to remember when Washington Square Mall was a big field in the middle of nowhere and the sirens rang every day at 11:00, letting me know it was time to quit riding my bike and go home for lunch. In junior and high school I was one of those Kevin Smith-coined mallrats and a headbanger and have fond memories of "watching movies" with my future husband at the long-deceased Shadeland Drive-In. I never went to a school dance and still regret not trying to write for the school paper.

My husband and I have been married since 1989, and we were blessed with a daughter in 1994, who is now a beautiful and totally awesome teenager. We share our home with our dog Rascal and three cats: Cassie, Tiger and Avari. (Check out their profiles, as well as that of our old man Nomad who crossed the Rainbow Bridge in 2007, on IndyPaws!)

I've been a secretary since high school and working in the legal field since 1990, but my first love is writing. This love was renewed when I took some writing courses at the Writers' Center and IUPUI, and I've been very lucky to get a little better and have a few poems published here and there. I still don't know what I want to be when I finally grow up and finish school, but hopefully it's something that involves writing and helping people.