Bio

I wanted to be a writer since I was in the third grade and my teacher, Sr. Judith, told my mother I showed promise. I continued to enjoy writing, but never received encouragement to make it my main career. So I studied Math in college (at the University of Kansas). One of my first jobs after a year of teaching was writing computer programs for the Kansas City Police Department.
Another of my favorite things is skiing. My first ski trip was to Winter Park, Colorado, when I was in college. I didn’t know how to turn or stop or even get off the lift. So I criss-crossed the beginner slope. I’d start down sideways, fall, whip my skis around and point them the other direction, then stand up and do it again. That’s a long, awkward, and sometimes painful was to get down a mountain. I don’t recommend it!
But the ski bug bit me. I was injected with that feeling of freshness and freedom found in the mountains in winter.
Since then, I have been fortunate to play on many other ski mountains. Keystone, Breckenridge, and Copper Mountain were fun places to ski with friends. I’ve enjoyed skiing Snowmass, Aspen Highlands, and Aspen, where my brother has a home.
The ski resorts of Utah hold a special place in my heart. My family skis every year at Snowbird, where all three of my children learned to ski. While there, we sometimes explore Park City, the Canyons, or Deer Valley.
At a high school reunion, I reconnected with a close friend who had moved to Vancouver, British Columbia. My family visited her for a number of years and we had some spectacular skiing on Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains. Exiting the lift at the top of Heavenly Run during a temperature inversion (where it is colder on the ground than higher up the mountain), I looked down at the floor of clouds that surrounded me, cutting me off from the valley below. Stunning peaks poked through the clouds as far as I could see. I thought I’d arrived in Shangri La.
My most memorable ski trip ever is the time I’ve spent on Powder Hound Mountain while writing My Skiing Sister. For five years, I’ve built this resort in my mind, combining two of my favorite things in life–writing and skiing. I hope Sr. Judith would be proud!