I grew up in the Flathead Valley of Montana, where the forest was never just a backdrop. I have been writing stories my whole life, first on Storybook Weaver before I could hold a pencil, then in glitter notebooks with Lisa Frank pens, then on a hard drive, and now on a Mac laptop in a house at the edge of the mountains.

Writing is how I make sense of the world and find truths I can live inside. I earned a degree in English Education because I wanted to help others do the same, and spent nearly ten years teaching high school English, first in Missoula, then San Jose, then Austin, before becoming a mother of two and finding my way back to Montana, and to the page.

Woundwood is my debut novel. I live in the Flathead Valley with my family and my dogs Nelly and Hobbes, and unlike my protagonist, I do not make the forest wait.