Though I was born in Iowa, I flew off to Southern California in my youth to live by the Pacific for a while and figure out where to go from there. Later I lived in Woodstock, Illinois, for years, a forty-minute train ride from downtown Chicago, on Lake Michigan. Attracted by water both times, I guess, and craving adventure. Now I live in Ames, Iowa, where I counseled students in the College of Design for seventeen years and raised two fabulous sons. My novels are set in small Midwest towns. I have written three suspense (mystery) novels and am now working on a novel that is just as suspenseful, but focused on a provocative family secret, not involving a crime. I am fascinated by the extraordinary natures of my characters and strive to know them better page-by-page—as they lead me on to a satisfying, and sometimes surprising, conclusion. I love imagining what it is like to be someone else. That requires compassion, as well as imagination. My five favorite writers are Alice Munro, Ian McEwan, Anthony Dorr, Edith Pearlman, and Annie Proulx.