About me

I've been writing creatively for seven years, winning several awards for my short fiction and novel excerpts from Writer-Editors Network, Writers Weekly, and Scratch, among others, even nabbing a Pushcart Prize nomination.

But mostly, I write novels which often turn out to be funny (but don't always start out that way).

I tried to write a serious novel about opera. But the more I immersed myself in my characters' world, the more humorous DON JUAN IN HANKEY, PA became. The operasphere is a cinematic, idiosyncratic world, full of misadventure.

I also blog about opera (the art form, not the platform) at Operatoonity.com and see live opera several times a year because, among other things, opera has really grown on me. There's always something new to learn in the world of opera, and opera houses are ideal places for people watching. Have I seen some characters at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York! Like well-preserved women wearing rhinestone glasses with gold lamé underwire bras, paired with white Spandex pants. I don't care how many booty lifts you've had. Between you and me, only small children appearing in dance recitals should ever slip their hind parts into white Spandex. Never mind Parterre seating. At the Met, all the fun's in the Family Circle, folks.

To my great good fortune, I became an accredited opera reviewer for Bachtrack, the world's best way to find live classical music, and have been lucky enough to see some of the best opera in the United States and meet some of the world's most talented opera stars through that connection.

Though I did formally study musical theater and singing, I'm not the singer I once studied to be. I gave up the greasepaint and glitter to become a wife and a mother of one, limited to infrequent shining moments in the world of entertainment.

One of my earliest writing teachers said, "Words are stones. Feel the weight of them." That stayed with me, guiding my editing and revision, more than any other single piece of writing advice.

I have a master of arts in creative writing from Wilkes University and live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, both of which richly inform my writing. My work has been published in The Christian Science Monitor, Duck & Herring Company's Pocket Field Guide, Sirens Magazine, Giggle Water Review, and in several anthologies.