: About Me

I have worked as a freelance writer and editor for the past ten years, with publishing credits including book and product reviews, newspaper features, magazine profiles, and a fiction novella. I hold a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine, with a focus on Popular Fiction, and currently run on-line classes teaching writing and editing to students around the country. My partner and I live in a former school building in Kentucky that we bought on Ebay, with 25 dogs, 37 cats, 11 goats, and other assorted wild beasts. We are in the process of renovating the 17,000 square foot building in order to create a writing center/animal rescue.

My passion is ...

Writing, reading, film and quality television (all too rare these days!)

I know too much about ...

Dogs of every size and shape, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

My parents always told me ...

to follow my bliss.

My childhood ambition ...

was to be a writer and work with animals. Now I do both - yay me!

Why I write ...

Because to me, at this point in my life, it is as natural as breathing. It helps me to focus my thoughts, sort through my feelings, and fuel me when times are tough.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

Wilco - Being There

Pets & Animals > Dogs (Other) Scientific studies on the healing power of dogs

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In 1962, child psychologist Boris Levinson reported significant improvement in several of his clients when he began bringing his dog Jingles to work with him. In subsequent research, Levinson found that animal companionship facilitated emotional healing in children ranging from infancy through the teenage years. Prior to Levinson's integration of pets into psychotherapeutic settings, French physician Cassaign integrated horses into physical therapy in 1875. And dating as far back as 600 B.C., references were made to the physical and emotional benefits of horseback riding for individuals wi...

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