Now, let me tell you a little bit about where I am today, and how I got here.
Right now, I’m a part time writer, and I feel very lucky to be able to do what I love in my spare time. I have been chronically sick and disabled since 2016, although I have a great medical team who has finally found me a treatment plan that gives me a part of my life back. My experience navigating a world with chronic illness at a young age has inspired my main characters to also face these challenges. I hope you enjoy their uniqueness, and their undeniable strength and resilience.
Not-for-profit work is very important to me. I work closely with a local dog rescue, called Rocky Road Rescue. I’m on their social media and marketing team, I regularly volunteer for their fundraising events and I’ve adopted all my rescue dogs from them over the years. Joining their community of strong, resilient, funny dog-loving women was one of the best things that ever happened to me.
I have also collaborated with Lanark County Interval House, Elizabeth Fry Society, Hospice Care Ottawa, Maple Hope Foundation, Dress for Success Ottawa, Kidney 4 Craig, Project Tembo and more.
I always wanted to be a writer, right from when I was a little girl. I was always scribbling out little stories and finishing storylines of dreams I woke up too soon from, creating even better endings. Later, in elementary school, I was getting noticed for my poetry and essays, as well as getting nominated to represent my entire school at annual speech competitions (unfortunately my great fear of public speaking prevented me from accepting this honour). I won several monetary bursaries at my highschool graduation, from essay competitions that my teachers entered me in without my knowledge, but which helped me afford college. I graduated with an Honours Certificate in Media and Communications and an Honours Diploma in Journalism. I was the Managing editor of Glue magazine and have published articles through British Columbia magazine, Canadian Traveller magazine, Pacific Yachting, explore magazine, Glue magazine, the Algonquin Times and Kanata-Kourier Standard for Metroland media.
When I was in my twenties, I represented Canadian Traveller on press trips around the globe. I’ve kissed giraffes in Nairobi, climbed mountains in the isolated Torngat Mountains in Labrador beside Margaret Atwood, done wine tours along the Amalfi Coast in Italy, kissed the Blarney Stone in Ireland, and almost gotten eaten by a hippo in Tsavo East National Park in Kenya.
Now I live outside of Ottawa with my husband and our rescue dogs. Our backyard faces the forest and you can see the River from our front lawn. We love to hike, kayak, camp and swim. The town we live in is very outdoorsy and has inspired my writing on more than one occasion. You’ll often find me in my hammock facing the forest, disconnecting from technology and curling up with a great book.
