I am a lifelong reader and writer who fell in love with Colorado on a childhood vacation. I left Southern Indiana for Denver the day after graduating from the University of Evansville. In 1995, I ended a 25-year career in Human Resources Management and joined the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster response team. The periodic work schedule provides time for research and writing.

My first book, Chipeta: Queen of the Utes, with co-author P. David Smith (Western Reflections Publishing, 2003), earned an EVVY award for “Best Biography 2003.” I told Chipeta’s story for a middle grade audience in Chipeta: Ute Peacemaker (Filter Press, 2008) which was the 2009 finalist for the WILLA Award in children’s/YA literature.

My published work is non-fiction. I produced six library-market books for educational publisher Cengage Learning (formerly Thomson Gale) and its Greenhaven imprint. My articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Saturday Evening Post,  Denver Post, Colorado Country Life, Family Chronicle, and Learning Through History.

Middle grade historical fiction and short story are my current writing interests--as yet, unpublished. My short story “Working Girl" won third place in the 2008 Women Writing the West short story competition. My 2009 story “A Night At The Theater” won first place in the same competition and is now published in an online anthology at http://www.womenwritingthewest.org/laura.html

My blog, http://chipeta.wordpress.com, focuses on research,  reading and writing with information about Chipeta frequently included.