I have loved stories all my life. For years I read global folk lore, fairy tales, and ancient myths voraciously, and marveled at the consistent themes of good and evil. They helped to engrain in me a conviction that the Bible stories I treasure are true, and that the God of heaven and earth has been actively seeking to teach us about Himself since the beginning of time.
In grade school, I read Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin. His portrayal of living as a Black man in the Deep South guided me toward degrees in creative writing and journalism that have been integral to my writing career. I practiced writing in different forms from the mid-1980s through 2013. I became the first female associate editor of any American automotive magazine, wrote for the L.A. Times (Orange County Edition), and was a contributor to numerous trade magazines (more than 100 articles—news pieces, essays, and features—for local and national publications). I served as the crime beat reporter for the Mountain Democrat newspaper in Placerville, covering some of the most infamous shootings in its history. Skill-stretching and emotionally challenging, these assignments helped to shape my views and my writing. I also wrote three books published under my own name, plus two more books written for others.
I was a caregiver for my husband since a stroke disabled him in 1998. More and more I felt unequal to the tasks of working, daily living, raising children, along with caregiving. I began studying monastic practices (especially the Rule of St. Benedict and the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius), first as part of a Spiritual Direction program under the auspices of Loyola Marymount
University, and then through Creighton University. I schooled myself under Dallas Willard, whose books taught me the value of Christian spiritual formation. I found that the more I gave myself to the spiritual rhythms I was learning about, the more peace and joy I experienced, which better enabled me to handle my days.
I am an orthodox Christian (meaning I align with the traditional beliefs of the Early Church), deeply committed to spiritual formation in order to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ. I have enjoyed a wide gamut of Christian worship services over the years, and at one time served as the lay leader of an Anglican church plant. In each place I encountered Christ in a special way, which has contributed to my strong leaning toward the Ecumenical movement among Christ-centered churches.