Welcome

I served as a Biologist, Refuge Manager, and Project Leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for twenty-five years. Long before I began that career choice, I was a writer. I've written short stories and poems since childhood, and throughout my life, I was content to write for personal satisfaction. Eventually, I found that writing for myself wasn’t enough. I enjoy sharing a good story, even more so if I made that story up myself.  One day, I decided I was going to write that book. I started with an epic James Michener type tome, but partway through, I had an epiphany. I enjoyed reading mysteries. Whenever I entered a book store or library, I gravitated to that section.  So, I embarked on learning how to write mysteries. That was years and years ago, and I’ve learned so much from other writers, conferences, and reading the books I love. I retired from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and writing is no longer a hobby for me. I am determined to get published so that others can read the stories I create, and hopefully, fall in love with my characters and locations.

 I have a great love for the beauty and mystery that surrounds wild places, and I incorporate that into my writing as I intertwine murder plots with the fantastic biological world that surrounds us. On national wildlife refuges, everyone works to conserve natural resources, but success in protecting those resources depends on people and relationships. Doesn’t everything? My writing is rich in setting, taking the reader to wild places I have explored, and introducing them to the kind of people I’ve met along the way. Although the characters and the plot in the story are fictional, the locations, for the most part, are not.  

 Join me now on my journey. Through my blog, My Journey, I’m going to keep you up to date on my efforts to succeed as a published author. From time to time, I’ll include a piece of my writing, an essay, or a paragraph from a novel. That will give you an idea of my writing style and voice. Let’s go!