I am a writer, high school English teacher, education consultant and CrossFit coach. I married my high school sweetheart, and together we have two daughters. Writing did not become a passion until I was a senior in college. I never believed that I had the skills until I took a creative writing class. I realized then that I had a seed of hope. I had a strong literature background and an absolute love of poetry. So as the never-complacent person I am, I set out to challenge myself while in graduate school. Not only would I work on my Masters in Education, but I would write a novel. I succeeded, but as with every first attempt, it needed work. Lots of work. A marriage, two children and seven years into teaching, I finally revised my novel to the point where a small publisher, Long Tale Press took a chance on me. Getting my first major work out there was an accomplishment, but my sites were set higher: the big leagues–the publishers in NYC. Kate McKean came into my life after I queried another manuscript. She saw me through the revisions and ultimate rejection of that novel, but in the process tweaked my writing, bringing it to the next level. I set out to write Tap Out, a story of MMA, life in the trailer park, crystal meth, and one teen’s struggle to get out. A year later, we sold it, and it is set to be released by Running Press in the fall of 2012. Therefore, I am looking forward to a writing career, combined with my life as an educator. Please visit my pages, as I keep you updated on the process of working on Tap Out and offer up samples of my other published and non-published works. Thanks for stopping by.