ABOUT ME

So here's the scoop.  I'm from the San Francisco Bay Area and I can never seem to get away from here for long despite my continual fear of earthquakes.  Yes, that's all I got out of the geology classes I took at Stanford.  That and a nifty rock pick.  If you haven't gone to the desert and smashed things with a rock pick, you don't know what you're missing.

I received degrees in English & American Lit and Creative Writing, which qualified me to do very little except read books.  That was my goal all along, but no one pays you to do that.  I studied in England and missed the sun. I worked in non-profits and the theatre and missed getting paychecks. I wrote a lot of features for newspapers like the San Francisco Chronicle and the Contra Costa Times, which was great fun.

I live with the fabulous spouse and the force-of-nature spawn and our insane rescued dogs.  A friend who recently visited said, "They are bad dogs."  I prefer to delude myself that they are morally complex.

I've won some awards for my writing, but I get a real thrill when a fan sends me an email, or readers say they like the nonsense on my blog.  My priorities have always been skewed.

I also wrote a romantic comedy under the name Grace Coopersmith.  Why Grace Coopersmith?  Because Grace Coopersmith is always elegant and tasteful, and she never leaves her clothes in a pile on a chair or sings to her dogs.  Despite Grace's annoying superiority, she is hilarious and always shows up with a good bottle of wine.  You may want to spend time with her and read her fabulous and funny book, Nancy's Theory of Style.

I've also written a young adult gothic, Dark Companion, which will be published by Tor Teen in June 2012. 

When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a ballet dancer and get my toe-shoes. I was terrible at ballet because I'm both clumsy and unable to follow directions. But I did eventually get my toe-shoes, which says something about perseverance, I suppose, or an inability to let reality discourage me.