I grew up in cowboy country in western Nebraska. In my early years, my parents owned a town. It had a population of four and it’s own zip code. When I was a young teen we moved to my grandmother’s ranch where I learned to work cattle, ride a horse, and drive a tractor.

After high school, I attended college where I met the love of my life. I promptly quit college, got married, and started working. In the ensuing years, we had a daughter and moved from Nebraska to Texas, later to New Mexico, and then on to Colorado. Eventually I decided to go back to college and finish my degree. I graduated with a BA in English Writing in 2012.

I started writing a community news column for a very small county paper while I was in high school. If I remember correctly, I earned $8 a month for calling the neighbors and asking them what they had done or who had visited them that week. It was a little like being a gossip columnist. During high school and my first attempt at college I learned to love writing argumentative essays and research papers. Later, I wrote a mental health column for another small rural newspaper. During my second time in college I learned the joys of writing creative nonfiction.

I wrote my first romance novel on a portable typewriter while living in West Texas. At the time I was reading a romance a day and thought I should give it a try. That manuscript is neatly packaged and resides in my desk drawer to this day. I didn’t write again until years later, when I wrote The Blackmailed Beauty. I have since written the sequel, To Release and Earl, and my mind is always brimming with more plot ideas. In fact, the third book in the series, Injured Sensibilities, was recently published/.

I am a member of Romance Writers of America, Colorado Romance Writers, and the Beau Monde.

Warmest wishes,

Ilene