Hometown: Niceville, FL

Favorite Books: ​

• Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

• The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer

• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

• No, David by David Shannon

• In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak

• The Poet's Dog by Patricia MacLachlan

• Silksinger by Laini Taylor

• Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems 

• The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

• Carver, a Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson

• Stop Pretending by Sonja Sones

• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

• Sage for Sanctuary by Felicity Pullman

• Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset

Favorite Writers: 

• see above and

• Jane Yolen

• Margueritte Henry

• Virginia Hamilton

• Jack Prelutsky

• Roald Dahl

• Holly Black

• Ellen Hopkins

• Diana Hutts Aston

• Julie Fogliano 

• and too many others to list

Children: 2, boys, grown (mostly)

Dogs: Maggie and Olive

US States: All of them except Hawaii, Alaska, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. (I've lived in seven of them.)

Instruments: ukelele, banjo, cello, harmonium, not well enough to play in public

Music: almost anything but no words while I'm writing

Childhood memory: standing at the top of a metal slide in a hail storm (not a suggestion)

Favorite classes in school: 

• English

• Geology

• Biology​

African Countries I've visited: (15/54) Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal, Ghana, Morocco, Egypt, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Africa, Mali, and Zambia.  (I've landed in Mauritania and Sierra Leone, but I didn't get off the tarmac, so I'm not counting them.)

Favorite Teachers: Mrs. Hackett, 6th grade

• Mrs. Johnson, 10th grade

• Dr. Robert A. Larson, Okaloosa Walton Community College

• Laurel Heffner, yoga

Favorite Movies: 

• Matilda

• Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast

• Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl

• Tolkein

Favorite Century: 14th, but I wouldn't want to live there

Favorite Food: 

• fruit

• chocolate

• brussel sprouts (seriously)

Favorite Places

• beaches

• deserts

• mountains

• big cities

• plains

• small towns

Cats: allergic

Education: BA English, MA English, MFA Poetry, RYT Yoga, Creativity Coaching