Barbara Bartholomew is a mother, grandmother, former newspaper reporter, and has been writing and publishing books for several decades now. Having grown up on a western Oklahoma cotton farm (pulling cotton convinced her of the desirability of getting a college degree), she turned to freelance writing when her three young children had chicken pox and then every other possible non-threatening illness, forcing her to stay at home most of the time so that this was the only available career option. Her first sales were short stories, eventually leading to twenty traditionally published books as well. These days as an independent publisher she writes exactly what she wants (mostly fantasy) and is having the best time of her life!