biography~

I began my career in Toronto as a staff editor, and later as a freelance editor, for such magazines as Toronto Life, Canadian Living, City & Country Home, The Financial Post Magazine, Canadian Yachting, TO and other consumer magazines. In the early '90s, after moving to Vancouver and working for two years as a copy editor for Western Living, I undertook a thorough examination of the craft of fiction. Since then I've run my own business as an editor, communications consultant and literary coach.

My poetry and personal essays have appeared in literary journals, magazines and newspapers such as Western Living, Canadian Living, the Globe and Mail and Amethyst Review. I've edited, proofread or consulted on more than 200 books since 1988 for such publishers as Key-Porter Books, Penguin, Harlequin, UBC Press, Greystone, Annick Press, Whitecap Books and Sasquatch Books. Some of those books have gone on to appear on the New York Times bestseller list (An Irish Country Doctor/Forge) and become national and B.C. bestsellers. Two have been nominated for BC Book Prizes and one was named Best Adventure Travel Book at the Banff Mountain Book Festival.

I have an Honours Bachelor of Journalism degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, have been a voting member of the Editors' Association of Canada since 1987 and am a member of the Professional Editors' Association of Vancouver Island. Personal pursuits include yoga, hiking, sitting meditation, a movement meditation called 5 Rhythms, expressive arts such as journal writing and painting, and gardening on our semi-rural property.