From Journalist to Aspiring Novelist

I've always wanted to be a writer. When I was a kid, while other boys were asking their parents to buy them BMX bikes or boom boxes (yes, I'm that old), I begged my father to buy me an old, manual Smith Corona typewriter from a local flea market. I would sit for countless hours at our kitchen table typing out my first journal and then, later, short stories.

After a decade as a freelancer for a gay and lesbian magazine and a day job in public relations, I decided to go to Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. I picked a hell of a year. I showed up for orientation in August of 2001. Little did I know that my first writing assignment would be to cover the Word Trade Center attack and its infinite aftermath. I learned the craft of journalism while reporting on perhaps the most significant news story of my generation's lifetime.

From New York, I took my first paid reporter gig in Shreveport, Louisiana, where I reported and edited the entire entertainment section. From there, I landed a job in the state capital as a feature writer. By my second year on the job, I was covering Hurricane Katrina, chronicling the heartache and the incredible courage shown by the people of New Orleans.

For the next decade I enjoyed an amazing career in public relations in Washington, D.C. Over a year ago, I began my first novel.  It's been a long journey, in which I found my narrative voice again and my love of storytelling. Currently I am looking for a literary agent, while I begin work on my second novel. 

I live in DC with my beloved husband and our baby, a French Bulldog named Talleyrand.