A bit about me.

I grew up in England in Bushey, Hertfordshire, right on the North West edge of London. My father repaired and restored antique furniture and my mother was a home maker. I was fascinated by books at an early age and learned to read by age four.

After moving around England, we ended up living near Oxford where I finished my education. I then worked in Oxford University until my marriage. In the mid 70's my husband and I left England with our two small daughters for a new life in the US. We moved to Michigan and then, after some years, to Minnesota. Once there we decided to home school our girls. At that time there was only a fundamentalist Christian group in the state so I worked to create a state-wide inclusive homeschooling network, The Minnesota Homeschoolers Alliance or MHA. Like Topsy, it has grown and grown and can be found at www.homeschoolers.org. I wrote a number of booklets on home schooling and also produced The Grapevine, a newsletter for home schooling families. I also helped produce an annual Conference where I was a speaker for several years.

After ten years in Minnesota we moved yet again, this time to the beautiful Willamette Valley of Oregon. As my daughters were by then beyond home education I turned my attention to Domestic Violence and became a speaker for a local Women's shelter.

Sadly I went through a divorce in the early 90's and began sharing my house with another woman. I later learned that she was a heavy drug user. At that time I knew little about drug abuse but I learned the hard way. After dealing with the ongoing effects of drug abuse in my home I decided to be pro-active and start a local drug education network, working with local law enforcement and schools to educate others about drugs and their effects on both the user and the family.

During this time, I also became a caregiver for a woman friend who was a disabled Veteran. I gained a great deal of experience dealing with the VA and learned a lot about our Veterans who also have drug addiction problems. I also learned that the VA is overwhelmed by the numbers of young Veterans who are returning from the recent wars with life-changing injuries, not the least of these is PTSD.

I have written a lot of fiction for my children, although mostly unpublished. In 2012 I decided on a whim to take the NaNoWriMo novel writing challenge.
I had never until then, written a full length adult novel. I produced Adventure in Time in 21 days. This is my fun writing which I do for enjoyment!