I spent a good chunk of childhood in Arkansas. But I've lived all over the US and in Europe and the Middle East. You could say all over the map.
Author Sarah Sullivan has a theory that many children's writers moved around a lot as kids.
My grandfather read a lot to my brother and me. His favorite was Dr. Seuss. Two more brothers, and two sisters, came along and we all like to read.
I earned an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts in January of 2007, and was awarded the Jane Resh Thomas Critical Writing Scholarship.
I read submissions for the VCFA literary magazine, HUNGER MOUNTAIN, and also for the annual Katherine Patterson Prize for YA and Children's Writing.
This photo was taken when it was -15 F.
Other stuff:
-Member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and a former Regional Advisor for SCBWI France.
-Reader for English language children's literature acquisitions for publisher Editions de La Martinière Jeunesse, Paris.
- I never met a vegetable I didn't like. 
Some jobs I've held:
(Paid) babysitter, dishwasher, waitress, lunch cook, caterer help, retail clothing sales, production assistant, adverting junior account executive, very small business CEO, writing teacher.
(Unpaid) work in schools, churches, theaters, elderly home, hospital, orphanage, suicide hot lines, soup kitchens
I live in San Francisco with my family and our small, ill-behaved dog, Louie.