My parents immigrated to the United States from Holland (the Netherlands) with my two older brothers the year before I was born. I grew up on a series of dairy farms in California into what became a very large family—seven brothers and two sisters.
When I entered high school, my fascination with creative writing began. I was fortunate to receive excellent instruction, plus a great deal of encouragement, from my English teachers. One put an extra credit story I had written into the annual school literary publication and another made copies of one of my essays for the entire junior class as an example of excellent writing. Both incidents left a lasting impression on me, though I didn’t comprehend their full significance at the time.
Scholarship in hand, I entered Sacramento State College where I earned a BA degree in English and a secondary teaching credential. Then I did something I swore I would never do—I married a dairy farmer.
Over the following thirty years, I helped on the family farm, raised two sons, taught at a local middle school, and dabbled in an assortment of hobbies, but did little writing other than in my journal. It wasn’t until my sons were grown that I finally returned to what my teachers had encouraged me to pursue while in school—writing.
Though it delayed my career as a writer, I never regretted my decision to marry and raise a family. My years as wife and mother taught me about love and selflessness and fueled me for the years of writing that lay ahead. They also uncovered what would become the driving force behind my work: the call for spiritual and emotional freedom. Through my novels, which synthesize heart and mind, science and spirituality, I hope to inspire people to activate their gifts, retire their excuses, and stand in their own authority.
It took me ten years to write four novels and an another seven years to whip them into shape for publication. During that time, I also earned a creative writing certificate through UC Davis Extension, joined several writing organizations, attended writers’ conferences, participated in two critique groups, and started a blog. The last book in my four-book series was published late 2019.
