Bio Facts Summary:
- Born in St. Paul, MN
- B.A. in Philosophy from the University of St. Thomas
- Married to Michael
- Seven children: Nick, Anthony, Noah, Lizzie, Liam, Joey, and Tess
- Has lived in and around the Twin Cities, Austin, and Denver.
- Currently resides in the Greater Cincinnati area.
The Nitty Gritty:
Here’s who I am: I’m a mom. I have seven kids, ages three to 17. With seven kids—five of them boys—you can imagine the tons of laundry I fold. Two to three loads, every day. Not including the ironing. And as I’m doing all of this folding, my mind starts to wander. But it never escapes to a magnificent, peaceful, tropical paradise. No, being a natural-conspiracy theorist, it always goes to “Worst Case Scenario.” Now, I’ve watched those worst-case-scenario, survivorman-vs.-wild type shows. It’s always just one, rugged, outdoorsy guy trying to save his own skin, while talking to the camera. But in my Laundry Daydream Land, the WCS always involves kids (and no happy reality-cams). I think to myself, “What would be the worst, most dangerous position to be in, with kids?”
Well, being chased by a Mexican drug lord came to mind. Hence, my first book and some of the harrowing scenes within. And there are plenty more WCSs, so of course there’s a series. (Hey, Steven King gets his ideas from his nightmares. This isn’t really that different.) It’s important to me that one of my protagonists is a mom, and she doesn’t have any super powers or ninja skills. She just uses her head. This makes her more relatable to “regular” moms, as she is thrust into extraordinary circumstances.
But here’s the other thing you need to know: When I wrote The Mexican Standoff, I thought big. Box-Office-Blockbuster big. I could “see” the movie as I was writing. I wrote a book I would want to read, that will translate into a movie I want to go see. (I typically only hit theaters for the major-leaguers. The rest, I rent from Netflix.) And the ending isn’t just “satisfying,” it’s “Yes! Yes! YES!” At least, that’s what I was going for.