Born and raised in South Carolina, I hold a master's degree in personnel services from Clemson University and am a member of Romance Writers of America, EPIC authors, and Alpha Delta Kappa, an international honorary society for women educators. I've been married for thirty five years to my college sweetheart. We have two sons-a physicist and a fraud investigator. They've given us three wonderful grandchildren-one girl and two boys. We also have two mean cats and one sweet, brown dog.I've been writing since 2001 when my son asked me to proofread a book he'd written. I figured if he could, so could I. My first published novel, A New Leaf, was the winner of the 2003 Timeless Love contest. If I wasn't sold on writing before, that did it. I've been writing ever since and don't have any plans to stop. Frankly, I don't think I could even if I wanted to. Writing is a strange compulsion that drives me to spend long hours in front of a keyboard when I could be doing important things like napping or eating chocolate. My house isn't dusted as often, I rarely cook, and who cares if the laundry got done or not. Yeah, no doubt about it, I'm addicted.When I'm not writing or teaching I enjoy gardening, quilting, and trying new restaurants with my friends. You can learn more about me at my web site http://www.elainecantrell.com and at http://www.myspace.com/elainecantrell I also have a blog at http://www.elainepcantrell.blogspot.com