After graduate school,  I served as the director of a domestic violence program. Here I worked with battered women and their children before relocating to central Virginia to assume a position in the treatment department of a correctional center.  My work focused on the treatment of sexual offenders, both adult and juveniles, as well as their families. I have also  worked with the homeless mentally ill. 

Soon after leaving the Shenandoah Valley, I married a librarian. (Who else would put up with so many books?) Ed and I are parents to three amazing children through adoption. They are teenagers now, and yes, I have the wrecked car, dental bills, and electric guitar to prove it. In addition to our human children, we share our home with many animal companions--I've yet to meet an animal that I didn't like.

When my children were older, I turned more attention to writing, especially poetry.  My work has appeared in numerous print and online journals and has received several nominations for the Pushcart Prize.  Forms of Intercession, my first full length collection of poems, was published last year by Mayapple Press. My first novel, Tomato Girl, is available from Algonquin Books.

For updates and more details about my life as a writer, please see my blog, Notes on the Writing Life.