ABOUT THE AUTHOR

My writing career began inauspiciously at the age of seven. At the time I was still under the impression that you must always begin at the beginning, so I started writing my first book by creating the cover. I had only a vague idea of the story I would tell, but I had already selected a title: The Mystery of the Missing Cabin. After gluing a piece of drawing paper to a piece of cardboard — my first book would of course be published in hardback! — I illustrated said cabin and emblazoned the title on the cover in the fine script of a second grader. Then I got to writing. 

As I proudly assembled the finished manuscript in its cover, I was mortified to discover a disastrous authorial bungle. While a cabin was indeed a focal point of the story, I had forgotten to make the cabin disappear. In my first and very tough lesson in irony, I discovered that the only mystery to my missing cabin was why the book was titled as such when the cabin never went missing. With deadlines looming, I grabbed my crayons and sprang into action, coloring over the word “missing” on the cover with a sprawling letter “V” intended to represent a bird. (Do kids still draw birds this way?) The crisis was averted, and The Mystery of the Cabin was complete, soon to receive a lukewarm response and mixed reviews at the school talent show. 

Fast forward through many beat-up journals and wonderful teachers, struggles with the “canon,” discovering critical thinking in college despite one special teacher’s desperate attempt to teach it to me since fifth grade, a creative writing degree at SMU, wild and meaningless escapades in Los Angeles meant to assert my right to be here, a misdirected if pleasant career in the restaurant industry, and a less misdirected and more pleasant career in marketing, and we arrive at L.A. Pancake today.

Eventually I returned to my hometown of Kansas City, where I completed my first novel. If you’re familiar enough with the city to ask whether I’m on the Missouri or Kansas side, then I’ll confess that I’m a Missourian who married a Kansan and moved across the state line, which means there is no one within a 100-mile radius who likes me. This is fine because I’m a writer of the old school ilk: introverted bordering on reclusive and somewhat curmudgeonly. But my tendency toward crankiness is balanced by my love of laughing at myself and others (and the immense joy I find in karaoke). Laughter keeps me sane in this mad, mad world, so I engage in it whenever possible and often when inappropriate. My first novel is a rape revenge tale with a humorous bent, so enough said. 

Oh, and I love dogs. My husband and I adopted a husky and two of her puppies that were found abandoned on the side of road. So even if you don’t like my writing, feel free to follow me for cute dog pics!