My path has been a circuitous one, like a lot of people I suppose. I left my hometown of Cincinnati, eventually making my way to fashion avenue in New York City after college. After 4 years at that, and being miserable in my work, I completely changed everything. Whose idea was that anyway? I finally decided to follow my heart and go to seminary. That lead to a doctoral program in religious studies in Berkeley, and my subsequent university life in Los Angeles. I've always been a writer at heart. When I was a little girl, I wrote stories in spiral notebooks that my grandmother gave me. At first she gave me the small ones, and then she saw that I meant business and she started giving me the big thick spirals for my stories and drawings. My mother saw early on that I should be a teacher, but of course I hated that idea. Well, they were both right. Eventually I became a professor and continued writing. I've come full circle.