Beckie's Biography

I grew up in Utah and Arizona and was the eldest of nine children. When I was six years old my parents had eight kids. Myself, age six, a twin boy and girl age four, twin boys, age two and triplet girls who were babies. And then my youngest sister came all by herself when I was eleven. I grew up changing diapers, feeding babies and playing with a lot of siblings. My mother had little time to read to us, but when she was ordered to stay in bed while pregnant with the triplets she read us the book HEIDI. I loved it and it is still about my favorite book. Over summer 2006 I was able to hike in the Swiss Alps and all the magic of the story I felt when I was a tiny child came back to me.

In high school I took a creative writing class and it was then I first learned that I enjoyed writing. I liked making things up. My daughters and siblings will tell you I have always embellished stories and as a writer I get paid for it. It’s fun!

I graduated from college with my first daughter in my arms. From there I went into full time mother mode, having two more children.  The eldest had special needs and her life consumed my life. After she died, I continued to volunteer at my other daughters’ schools but I felt empty. A good friend suggested I write about my daughter. So I took a class at UCLA called writing for children and began writing. When we moved from Los Angeles to Virginia it was no longer convenient to take writing classes and I realized the picture book I had started really was a novel. So I applied to the Vermont College MFA program and was able to work with wonderful children’s authors, who taught me how to write novels. Writing has helped me find out who I am beyond a mother.

I think I write for kids and teens because I feel so much kid still left in me. Perhaps being a junior mom for so many years growing up didn’t allow me to explore all the things kid normally do. So now I do it through my writing and it’s very fun and rewarding. My first two novels deal with being the new kid, and since we have moved our children so many times, they have lived in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Iowa, California, Virginia and now New York I have had to see how hard it is for them to start over. This is my way of acknowledging that to them and letting them know how much I admire their courage.

When I am not writing, I love to spend time with my husband shopping at farmers markets, walking in the beautiful wooded park one block from our high rise in Queens,  watching movies, and traveling to our favorite two ocean spots, South Beach, Florida in the winter, and the Mount Desert Island area of Maine in the summer. While there—we walk the beaches, kayak, swim in the ocean and watch for dolphins. When my girls come home often re-watch our favorite family movies, which include the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, the Back to the Futures, Ever After, White Christmas, It’s a Wonderful Life and all the Charlie Brown holiday specials. My girls and I aren’t really into cooking that much, but we love to make sugar cookies for every holiday—green shamrocks, orange pumpkins, red white and blue flags, and valentine hearts.  At Christmas time we get really fancy and have a big gingerbread house making party.  Beyond thatI read, and listen to books on my MP3 player and enjoy shopping. Oh yes, I like to clean. I know. That’s weird.