I made my first foray into the world of freelance writing in the mid-1980s, while living on British Columbia’s idyllic Hornby Island. Although the rental house I called home was hard to heat and had rodents living in the walls and attic, it offered priceless ocean views from the corner of the living room where I parked my manual typewriter (see photo to left) and began producing stories for the likes of Canadian Geographic, Harrowsmith and The Beaver.

After a couple of years of writing in winter and working as a park naturalist in summer, I embarked on a new adventure: teaching geography and biology at Lilongwe Secondary School in Malawi, Africa, under the auspices of the World University Service of Canada. My two and a half years of work and travel in Africa were filled with learning and memorable experiences.

Upon my return to Canada in 1990, I dusted off my undergraduate degree in zoology (earned from the University of Alberta in 1982) and soon landed a five-month job as a member of a research team studying grizzly bears in the remote and spectacular Khutzeymateen Valley. The next two summers saw me out in the field again, this time doing seabird research on the Queen Charlotte Islands.

Meanwhile, I found myself unable to resist the pleasures of working with words. I reconnected with some of my old magazine markets, cultivated a variety of new ones, and wrote a book proposal, which led to the publication of Women of the Klondike in 1995. Since then, I’ve continued to juggle magazine journalism and book authorship on a fulltime basis.

I am a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists, the Canadian Science Writers' Association, and The Writers Union of Canada and an alumnus of the Institutes for Journalism & Natural Resources (IJNR), having attended the July 2009 Puget Sound Institute. In 2008, I was Writer in Residence at Berton House in Dawson City, Yukon, for three months.

My favourite leisure activities include gardening, singing, and exploring wild places. I live in Victoria, British Columbia, with fellow writer Mark Zuehlke.