Before I took pen to paper, I was an actress. I attended a local university majoring in theatre and spent a summer in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts where I learned about the “Old Bard” from amazingly talented teachers. When I returned from London, I relocated to Chicago where I lived for five years. There, I graduated from the Second City Training Center and performed improv, Shakespeare, comedies and dramas—I even sang and danced on a cruise boat—without falling in Lake Michigan! A classmate of mine from Second City and I created and performed a two woman show for a year before I braved it alone doing stand-up comedy. It was during this time I began to write an adult novel about a rock star—I had always enjoyed writing... Fast forward a couple of years along with a move home where I was performing “stand-up” at comedy clubs in the area. On a plane to LA to decide my fate— “to move to LA or not to move to LA” that is the question, my big bro, Mark, coincidentally with the same last name as mine (author of PRINCES IN EXILE, DREAMS OF THE SOLO TRAPEZE and STARCROSSED) handed me a young adult book he found at the library he thought I’d like to read during the flight. As I read the book, I thought, ‘I can do this!’ I returned from LA, and instead of moving there, I wrote my story about the rock star as a young adult novel and called it JOHNNY LIGHTNING. Mark, my writing mentor, edited JL for me. He was kind enough to send the manuscript to his publisher in Belgium—Facet—and they published it! In Dutch! I was now on a new life path! In 2001 HarperCollins made me an offer I couldn’t refuse! Not only was HarperCollins going to publish TEENAGE MERMAID, but it was in a language I could read and book stores I could walk into! HarperCollins also bought VAMPIRE KISSES and COMEDY GIRL. It was a dream come true! Since beginning my new life path, VAMPIRE KISSES, TEENAGE MERMAID, and MY MOTHER, THE CLOWN have been published by Facet in Belgium and JOHNNY LIGHTNING has been published in Germany by Ravensburger. Then my fabulous editor at HarperCollins asked me for a sequel to VAMPIRE KISSES! HarperCollins published VAMPIRE KISSES 2—KISSING COFFINS and now the soon to be released VAMPIRE KISSES 3—VAMPIREVILLE. I am currently writing VAMPIRE KISSES 4! When I'm not writing about the love affair between vampire obsessed, goth girl Raven and my favorite mysterious dark-eyed hottie, Alexander Sterling, I enjoy working on my other novels, shopping for Hello Kitty items, and attempting to gain control of the remote from my boyfriend.