Frequent contributor to The Washington Post, The Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle and other publications. Appeared on ABC's Nightline June 21, 2001. Memoir, Lucky That Way, published by University of Missouri Press, October 1, 2013, won the American Society of Journalists and Authors Outstanding Book Prize, 2014; nominated for The American Book Awards and was a finalist in the Santa Fe Writer’s Project. An excerpt appeared in the June 2008 issue of The Washington Post Sunday Magazine and a more recent companion story appeared in The Washington Post Health and Science section, August, 2011. Journalism work has been anthologized by Greenhaven Press and Books International and has been widely reprinted on the Internet. Worked as an editor for both literary and consumer magazines, including a five-year stint with Whittle Communications, publisher of Esquire. As a professional writing consultant worked for NASA, The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, The American Chemical Society, and others. She received an M.F.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University in May 1993 and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in May 1983 and has taught advanced writing and editing classes at Virginia Commonwealth University, Johns Hopkins University, Texas A&M University. Currently teaches Narrative Nonfiction in the Professional Writing Program at University of Maryland.