About me as a writer:

• My favorite stories are about topics that matter to women and families: how to raise our kids, get along with our husbands, organize our homes, manage our money and stay well. I also love writing profiles of interesting and inspiring people.
• I've won awards for both my personal essays and my magazine features.
• My most interesting project to date: retelling fairy tales, folk tales and legends (think Paul Bunyan and the Bremen Town Musicians) for PlainTales, a series of audiobooks for children.
• As a former academic editor, I'm fussy about turning in clean copy.
• I spend hours beating first drafts into submission.
• The mere thought of missing a deadline gives me hives.

About me as a person:

• I'm married to an incredibly smart and funny soon-to-be PhD named Quinn, and I'm the mother of 7-year-old and 2-year-old daughters.
• I serve on the Board of Trustees of the Ames Public Library.
• I'm a bibliophile whose favorite authors include Anne Tyler, Margaret Atwood, Barbara Kingsolver, Tracy Kidder, Anne Patchett, and Anne Lamott. P.S.: I prefer Bill Bryson to Dave Barry.
• I'm a sucker for musicals, particularly Fiddler on the Roof.
• I make a mean cinnamon roll. But to counterbalance the domesticity scale, I don't knit, sew or scrapbook.