My bio

I grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. Fortunately, my parents didn't make me choose between being a literature kid and a science kid, so I became both. I was also lucky to have teachers, family members, and librarians hand me books to devour. I majored in English at Rice University and earned a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in Austin. I've had a somewhat unusual array of jobs—from lawyer to swim coach to teacher. As an instructor, I've taught high school, junior high, college, and law school.
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I am a determined optimist who loves adventures big and small, especially those taken with my husband and two sons. In my younger years, a "perfect day" meant time swimming and time curled up with a good book. Decades later, that's still a perfect day!

​My favorite quotes

"This is true love -- you think this happens every day?"

William Goldman
​The Princess Bride

​"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be."  

​Douglas Adams
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

"I do love nothing in the world so well as you -- is not that strange?"

William Shakespeare
​Much Ado About Nothing

"Yet a greater, unlearned skill he possessed, which was the art of kindness."  

​Ursula K. Le Guin
A Wizard of Earthsea

"Know your own happiness."  

​Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility
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"We had the sky, up there, all speckled with stars." 

Mark Twain
​Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

"It’s a fine world, though rich in hardships at times."  

​Larry McMurtry
Lonesome Dove

"What you learn today, for no reason at all, will help you discover all the wonderful secrets of tomorrow."  

​Norton Juster
The Phantom Tollbooth

​"The debt of friendship is never collected . . . . And nothing is ever owed."  

Sharon Shinn
​Jovah's Angel

​"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."  

​J.R.R. Tolkien
The Fellowship of the Ring
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