An Early Love of Reading and Writing

I have always loved to read and write! I’ve been writing stories and poems since I was a young child.  When I  was a little girl, my Mom and Dad took me, along with my sister and my brothers, to the local library and books have always been a very special part of my life.  Story time was a wonderful time with my family, and I have fond memories of times spent enjoying books together. 

The more I read, the more I wanted to write my own stories. I kept all kinds of notebooks and journals while growing up. I loved to write stories and poems about my family, friends, and pets and all the places we explored. We had lots of cats and I loved to write stories about the funny things they did. Once a mama cat gave birth to her litter of kittens right on my bed – while I was sleeping in it!  That made for a fun-to-write story!

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart."

~ William Wordsworth ~

I love to write outside whenever I can. I am so inspired by nature and I love to take walks in my neighborhood or in the woods to spark my imagination. I write in a colorful writer’s notebook while I am gathering ideas and developing my manuscripts. I keep a small notebook with me wherever I go so I can jot down new ideas, bits of dialogue and story scenes. The "notes" feature on my cell phone comes in handy for recording ideas on-the-go!  I enjoy writing poetry, fiction and non-fiction for young readers. I love to take photos, and I am working on some ideas for a photo-illustrated book.  I enjoy sharing my love of writing with my son who writes in the fantasy genre.

LEGO® Art © Nathan Sawaya 


Much of the inspiration for my non-fiction magazine pieces comes from places I've explored with my family.  We visited Nathan Sawaya's "Art of the Brick" LEGO® Art Exhibition when his tour came to Philadelphia, and I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Nathan as part of my research for the article. You can read all about Nathan and his amazing LEGO art sculptures in my article, "Brick by Brick" in the September 2014 issue of Spider magazine.

Maillardet's Automaton
 The Franklin Institute Science Museum  


The inspiration for my article, "Maillardet's Mysterious Machine" came from a visit to see Henri Maillardet's automaton at the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia, PA.  You may recognize the automaton from the book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick and the movie, Hugo which was based on Selznick's book and featured an automaton inspired by Maillardet's creation.  You can read all about this old-time mechanical wonder in my article, "Maillardet's Mysterious Machine" in the December 2013 issue of Boys' Quest magazine, Schoolwide's digital classroom library collection, and in Spider Magazine (January 2016).


Other magazine articles take you on an outdoor adventure to explore "The Music of the Rocks" at Ringing Rocks Park in Upper Black Eddy, PA and bring you up-close and personal with "A Different Kind of Dog" - prairie dogs! 


Check out my Magazine Publications page for more information on these and other publications including forthcoming poetry for young children in Highlights Hello and Highlights High Five magazines and my fiction story, "Just Enough for Me" - a sweet and reassuring, kindergarten jitters story. :)  


I write reading passages for the Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation (CETE) and nonfiction books for the educational market including Fairies (Focus Readers, North Star Editions, August 2018), Get Outside in Winter and Get Outside in Spring (Focus Readers, North Star Editions, January 2019).  Three upcoming titles will be released August 2019 with Focus Readers, North Star Editions: Hurricane Katrina, California Wildfires, and East African Drought of 2011.