I was born on October 22 in Calgary, Alberta.

I currently live in Saint John, New Brunswick but I have also lived in Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan, Winnipeg and Thompson in Manitoba, London in Ontario, Charlottetown in Prince Edward Island, Corner Brook in Newfoundland, Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories and Grand Falls, McAdam, Nashwaaksis, Hampton, Florenceville and Fredericton in New Brunswick.  Can you tell my father was a Mountie and we moved around a lot?

I live with my husband, Nick, my son, Alex and my daughter, Hope.

We'd love to have a cat or dog, but Nick is allergic to them.

My favourite foods are homemade bread and rolls.

In my spare time I like to play with my kids and read.
 

When I was in elementary school, my favourite thing to do was to read, read, read.  By the time I was in grade 5 or so I had read all of the Nancy Drew books. One time when I was supposed to be doing a job for my mother, I hid and was trying to solve a mystery with Nancy Drew.  When my father found me he was about to get me working when my mother said, "Let her read, she might grow up to be a professor."

I kept on reading and, although I'm not a professor, I have taught at university.  You'll never guess what I taught - sessions on books for young people! So by letting me do my favourite thing, what my mother said turned out to be true, sort of.

I was a teacher when I graduated from university and taught for two years. But what I really wanted to be was a librarian so I could actually get paid to read books. I returned to university and eventually became a children's librarian. The funny thing is that I don't get to read the books I want to read at work. So I'm still reading when I should be doing work around the house.

As a children's librarian I get to see the best books published and I get the first chance to borrow and read the new books.  That is my favourite part of my job. When I first became a librarian I had the secret desire to write a book for children. I started one once but it was such hard work that I soon gave up on the idea. Shortly after that I got married, then had a baby and told myself that when I had more time I would start back on that book.

One day at work, I had to do a search for books about the RCMP. I was really surprised to discover that there were no current books about the Mounties written especially for children. I went home that evening and told my husband.

Nick knew about my secret desire to write a book and told me that I should write one. Even though I work with children's books every day, was an RCMP special constable for a summer job, and my dad was a Mountie, it never occurred to me to write a book about something like the RCMP. For some reason, I always imagined that I would write a story. 

To get me started, my husband did the dishes every night for a month while I was busy reading everything I could find about the Mounties. After doing more research at the library I discovered which publishers were making books like the one I wanted to write. I sent my proposal off to Kids Can and the rest is history. Well, almost. It took me more than three years to write my book and nearly one more year for the illustrating and then the printing.  The wait to see the finished book seems like forever.

Finding time to write is a challenge for me. After working all day at the library, I rush home to see my family and want to spend as much time with the children before they go to bed.  Eating, playing, homework, baths and bedtime stories take up the early evening. After about 9 P.M. I take a cup of hot chocolate into my office where I resist the temptation to read or watch T.V. I try to write or do research for a few hours. When I need to meet a deadline, I work longer. Right after sending my work into my editor, I use the time in the evening to write letters, read just for fun and work on my next project. After a deadline I also let myself relax and watch a little bit of T.V. I have to be careful though because it is easier for me to relax and watch T.V. than to write so I limit the amount of time that I have it on. If I didn't do this I would watch anything and everything on television!

To write a book full of information and facts, you have to read everything you can find on your subject. You soon learn that there is always more information out there in other books, in journals and on the Internet that is just waiting to be discovered and passed on to children. The hardest part for me is to stop researching and get writing. I want to keep reading (the fun part) rather than to get writing (the hard part).

Another good part about writing non-fiction books is that you get to use the names of you family and friends in your book. I had lots of fun imaging their reactions when they see parts of their name in print. I even used the first names of both my children and used it for one of the Mounties in my book. My husband's names are used twice and my brother's address is in chapter 1. I was even able to give the illustrator a picture of my brother-in-law, who is a Mountie, and she drew him in the book - check page 29. One of the Mounties in the book looks a lot like me, but that is just a neat coincidence. Try to find that Mountie by studying the picture on the front of this. Now check Boldly Canadian to see if you can find me. Here is a clue. Look for a picture of a group of new Mounties, and check out the first person in the second row. Do you think it looks like me?