I grew up in a small textile town in Upstate South Carolina. The youngest of five spirited siblings, I mostly kept my head in a book and tried to master the dual arts of watchfulness and eavesdropping. 

As a newspaper reporter fresh out of Davidson College, I got to cover a six-week trial involving a fire, felony murder charges and a hint of insurance fraud. That trial and a naturally argumentative spirit diverted me into a legal career and the intriguing balance of practicing law and raising twin children. 

I kept reading and writing in my spare time, mostly short stories and essays, then a novel, then two. I am drawn to characters who find their way through impossible situations, who can see the shiny bits in what looks to everyone else like rubble. 

I practice employment law in my own law firm  in Raleigh, North Carolina. I still eavesdrop, too, and maintain an abiding interest in people from big families and small places.