About Nan

Living in a suburb of St Paul, you wouldn’t think deer would wander through my yard and trim my raspberry bushes or hawks would perch on the fence.  But in the land of 10,000 lakes, you can always find ponds, lakes or nature reserves and wild creatures.  Each spring I’m relieved to see the egret has made it back and taken up its post at the muddy pond at the entrance to our development.

Our house seems unusually quiet without our five children running around.  (And one son-in-law, and one almost son-in-law.)  My husband and I wait for the ones in college to come home and the rest to visit.  Even the cat gets a little neurotic.  Oh wait – the cat was always neurotic. 

My children love to travel.  It seems as if someone in the family is always out of the country.  Perhaps this is because they watched their grandparents travel around the world.  We have a classroom-sized world map hanging in the hallway and each family member has a different colored dot to indicate where they've visited. 

As a financial executive, I wrote on airplanes, vacations and after the kids went to bed.  When a Japanese company purchased the pharmaceutical company I worked for, I took my stock options and severance package and decided to pour my passion into writing.  (Well first I remodeled my kitchen into a dream kitchen.)  I think people finally realize I didn’t retire, I now write full time. 

With great critique partners, conferences and e-learning, I’m mastering the craft of writing.  I’ve begun hitting the contest circuit and getting manuscript submissions to agents and editors.  I’m humbled that STEEL HEARTS, the first book in a four book series, finaled in the 2010 Golden Heart contest.