ABOUT ME
Bio
Born and raised in Los Angeles, I graduated from UCLA with a major in Mathematics and a minor in English and continued studies in the UCLA Graduate School of Education. After years of industry related writing, I decided to pursue creative writing and zeroed in on the short story form as the most immediate and exciting way to build worlds, create engaging characters, and promote positive themes.
I live in the Rogue Valley of Southern Oregon, where my husband and I moved in 2019 after many years in the Portland, OR area. Besides writing, I enjoy delivering meals to homebound people, hiking, gardening, beachcombing, and wildlife viewing.
Publications
Book Length
“Pretty Chrysanthemum and Other Stories,” Open Books Publishing
Short Stories
“Looking for the Blue Man,” Fiction on the Web
“The Fourth Friday in November,” Mid-American Fiction and Photography
“Mr. Williams’ School Bus,” Fiction on the Web
“Sycamore Leaves,” Scarlet Leaf Review
“Riley, Redeployed,” Fiction on the Web
“The Accidental Life Coach,” Chantwood Magazine
“Michael Rourke, The Ladies’ Man,” Fiction on the Web
“The Bird on Silver Strand,” The Best of Fiction on the Web (anthology)
Flash Fiction
“Driven Snow,” Indiana Voice Journal
Essays
“My Mother’s Crown,” Indiana Voice Journal
“What I Really Know About Patriotism,” AARP Bulletin
Courses offered
I taught a 10-hour course, “How to Write Short Stories and Get Them Published,” for OLLI at SOU (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Southern Oregon University) during the Spring terms of 2021 and 2022. Teaching online via zoom provided a wonderful experience during COVID lockdowns in 2021. On the other hand, in-person teaching in 2022 gave me that personal engagement that makes teaching especially rewarding. I also presented a “lite” version at one-day workshops at libraries. I’ve made short presentations on various fiction writing topics for a variety of audiences.