My story board

1. I grew up in Ronkonkoma, NY...

2. with my parents and two brothers.

3. I knew I was destined to be a writer when I won the Bohemia Fire Department Award for an essay on fire prevention. (I was twelve and the essay was from a dalmation's perspective.)

6. During that time, I met my husband in New Jersey. We later married and moved first to Charlottesville, VA, and then to Pittsburgh.

5. I had dreams of becoming a writer, but after graduating college I made a detour and spent a few years earning a masters in computer science and working in that field (computers were a bit larger).

4. After I graduated high school I went off to college at Cornell.

7. We had three kids and after that I decided to write again.

8. I went back to school for my MFA at Chatham.

9.