Having taught myself to read at the tender age of three, I was apparently destined to be a wordsmith--and for some 30 years I have been happily plying my craft as a writer and a book editor. On the writing side, I have authored YA biographies ranging from historical legends to pop culture icons as well as a number of publications about creating wildlife habitat and gardens that speak to my affinity for nature. I was also a contributing writer to "Your Child" and "Your Adolescent" for the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, published by Harper Collins and "The Book of Women's Health" for the National Women's Health Resource Center (Morrow). As an editor, I've worked with major publishing houses on virtually every genre imaginable, from romances and Edgar Award-winning mysteries to cookbooks and guidebooks. When not reading pretty much anything I can get my hands on--especially of the history and arts variety--I can be found tending my gardens, hiking the woods with my lovable mutt (who co-exists with my two lovable cats far better than they co-exist with one another), and photographing the world around the upstate New York home that I share with my significant other.