A native of Arkansas, I was raised in Wichita and lived in New York for a while. We have returned to Arkansas where I live on an acreage in the Ozark National Forest. Fellow western writer Dusty Richards influenced my career more than anyone. He never let me give up, and there were times I wanted to. He always told me, "The road to success is littered with quitters," and I've never forgotten that.

In 2003 I received the Creme de la Creme Award from Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc., for a mainstream novel, which in Oct. 2013, was published by Wild Rose Press as Once There Were Sad Songs. In 2009 we drove to San Antonio so I could accept a WILLA Literary Finalist Award for my book on New Mexico, Fly With The Mourning Dove. This is the most important award I've ever received.
In my journalistic life I've received several merit achievement awards for my historical columns from the Arkansas Press Association, and those are important to me as well.

While in San Antonio to accept my award for the New Mexico book, I met with a publisher who signed me to a contract for a book about the lost communities of the Boston Mountains of the Arkansas Ozarks. In addition to that, I've also signed a contract with another publisher to write a cook book filled with stories from the Boston Mountains. Working on these together is sure saving me a lot of research time. We hope to have them both out in the spring of 2010. Writing a book about New Mexico came as a great surprise, but when I learned the story of a distant cousin and her experiences homesteading in the high desert after WW I, the project took shape. I recently finished her life story and she is now reading it. The University of New Mexico is interested in the book and I should have news as soon as the revisions are finished. I'm also working on a book titled A Savage Grace. It's quite a departure for me, but a publisher is interested, so finish it I must. In 2014 it was one of the four books contracted to Oghma, and it will be out in Oct. 2015. Though I've always been a fan of horror, I never thought I'd write one. The experience has been mind boggling. Fantasizing is fun, especially when it scares me. I'm pretty sure it will scare my readers as well. aI'm so pleased to now be under contract with Oghma Creqative Media for two novels, a romantic suspense series and some work in the western field. I'm working on #6 in A Twist of A Poe Series working title Woe the Weary Raven. A sequel to Beyond the Moon titled Immortal Hero will be released in early 2019.