About Me

A little about my background: I’m the youngest of seven kids who grew up in the frozen north country of Grand Forks, North Dakota, 50 miles from the Canadian border. I attended the University of North Dakota and received a BS degree in geology, after which I pointed my car south, started driving, and didn’t stop until I reached the Gulf of Mexico. I won’t say the oil industry drew me to Texas initially, but it was certainly the reason I stayed.

Once I arrived in Dallas, I worked as a professional geoscientist for 4 years and then earned an MS degree in geology at the University of Texas at Arlington. After receiving my MS, I landed a job in Houston and worked in oil and gas for another 5 years. It was then that I pivoted to my true calling: writing and editing. I started my own business as a technical writer/editor and desktop publisher, still serving the oil industry. I remained self-employed for the next 35 years, living in Houston and Rockport, Texas.

I currently reside in Spokane, Washington, moving here in 2023 to be closer to family. I live with three formerly feral cats who now live the good life. That number is down from seven cats and two dogs, and that is a long story by itself.

My current projects include a creative nonfiction essay collection with a working title of Gail vs. the Raccoons (and the Raccoons Won), and a sequel to Art and Artifice. The sequel takes you from where the memoir leaves off in 2009 up to the end of 2017, when Hurricane Harvey made landfall in my hometown of Rockport, and the hurricane aftermath and recovery.