I was born and spent my childhood in the San Francisco Bay area in California. Dad was a school principal, so he had the same vacations we kids had. My family spent all our summers in a cabin in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. My two sisters and I (I'm the middle one) would hike in the woods, swim all afternoon, and argue over whose turn it was to lie in the hammock reading.
Because my mom read to us so much when we were little, I learned to read before I started kindergarten. Growing up, I enjoyed all sorts of books -- fiction and nonfiction, mysteries and biographies, new books and classics. For a long time my favorite was Little Women, and Jo was my favorite character. (She was the writer, of course.) I still have the copy that I read and reread, with the spine missing, page 113 falling out, and the page edges worn thin from turning.
As soon as I learned how to use a pencil, I wrote stories and poems. Whenever people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would say, "A writer." I didn't exactly know what that involved, except that writers were immersed in books, which sounded like heaven.
Somewhere around junior high school, I stopped saying "a writer." Lots of other subjects fascinated me too: math, science, music. (I play the piano and like to sing.) I went to college at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Still having a hard time deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up, I first studied math then switched to chemical engineering. I worked as an engineer in Houston, New Jersey, and Louisiana. Later I became manager of my company's quality program, and I wrote a book about quality. I got to travel all over the world as part of my job: Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, England, Belgium, Germany, Russia.
All this time, I joked with my friends: "When I grow up, I'm going to live on a mountain, raise strawberries, and write children's books."
In 1995, I decided to listen to the voice inside me and devote more time to writing. I moved to the Cascade Mountains in Oregon. (The picture up top is me in my backyard, which is a forest.) My big organic garden includes a row of strawberries 28 feet long. And I write stories, articles, and books for children.
Because my mom read to us so much when we were little, I learned to read before I started kindergarten. Growing up, I enjoyed all sorts of books -- fiction and nonfiction, mysteries and biographies, new books and classics. For a long time my favorite was Little Women, and Jo was my favorite character. (She was the writer, of course.) I still have the copy that I read and reread, with the spine missing, page 113 falling out, and the page edges worn thin from turning.
As soon as I learned how to use a pencil, I wrote stories and poems. Whenever people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would say, "A writer." I didn't exactly know what that involved, except that writers were immersed in books, which sounded like heaven.
Somewhere around junior high school, I stopped saying "a writer." Lots of other subjects fascinated me too: math, science, music. (I play the piano and like to sing.) I went to college at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Still having a hard time deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up, I first studied math then switched to chemical engineering. I worked as an engineer in Houston, New Jersey, and Louisiana. Later I became manager of my company's quality program, and I wrote a book about quality. I got to travel all over the world as part of my job: Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, England, Belgium, Germany, Russia.
All this time, I joked with my friends: "When I grow up, I'm going to live on a mountain, raise strawberries, and write children's books."
In 1995, I decided to listen to the voice inside me and devote more time to writing. I moved to the Cascade Mountains in Oregon. (The picture up top is me in my backyard, which is a forest.) My big organic garden includes a row of strawberries 28 feet long. And I write stories, articles, and books for children.