When I was in eighth grade, my short story about fake Christmas trees being secretly excited to be unboxed each year was featured in the school’s holiday newsletter. My tender years spent scribbling stories in spiral notebooks and wordsmithing with my tattered thesaurus were suddenly validated by Mrs. Quinn, my favorite teacher, and I have continued writing ever since.
Since I loved writing and reading so much, I went on to earn a BA in English and an MA in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Sociological Perspectives in Literature.
Motivated by maternal love and countless cups of tea, I started to again write poems and short stories after the births of my children. By the time my last child came along, I was mindlessly stepping over stacks of picture books bursting off of the shelves and my adoration and appreciation for children’s literature had become a matter of course.
In 2017, I was admitted to the Children’s Literature Fellowship Program at Stony Brook Southampton under the direction of Emma Walton Hamilton. Having the good fortune of being mentored by notable authors and editors in the year-long curriculum, I graduated in 2018 with an Advanced Graduate Certificate in Children’s Literature.
I write across genres with a current focus on picture books (fiction, non-fiction, and blended) and memoir. Being a mother of four children (and a menagerie of pets!) has undoubtedly shaped my writing in the best ways possible. Especially in picture books, I aim to meet readers where they are, finding that a little humor and heart can go a long way.
As a freelance writer and editor, I also contribute articles to our community newspaper, where each edition is distributed to over 22,000 residents and businesses and approximately 6000 unique online users visit the newspaper’s website per week. In addition to my own articles and manuscripts, I have worked with fellow writers on a variety of projects, including book manuscripts that have gone on to be published and starred by Kirkus and Publishers Weekly.