Cathy is a children's author & poet. She grew up in Illinois and is the oldest of four children. From the time she was young, Cathy always loved books and enjoyed writing. 

Her first memory of really loving children’s poetry was in elementary school when one of her teachers read from Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends. She’ll never forget “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out” or “Sick”. Cathy wrote in diaries and journals starting at age 10.  She loved the feeling of capturing her thoughts on paper.

One of her most prized possessions is her boxed set of Judy Blume books from her childhood. She was amazed at how an author could know how she was feeling and what she was thinking. At age 14, she even wrote a note to “her future children” hoping that she could someday share these treasured books with them. Click here to read the note.

While in 9th grade, Cathy got a glimpse of what it would be like to be an author. During Mrs. Shaffer’s English class, Cathy wrote a paper that her teacher entered in a contest. Cathy’s paper was selected to be included in a writing book entitled Active Voices II (Boynton-Cook Publishers). 

Cathy attended The University of Iowa and earned a degree in Journalism. She was a sports reporter for the college paper “The Daily Iowan”. A few years after graduating, she married her college sweetheart. Cathy worked for several organizations that all involved writing, including The Iowa Cubs baseball team (Chicago Cubs AAA team) and The Wall Street Journal.

While raising her three children, she was reminded how much she enjoyed children’s books. She read about children’s writing and studied authors that she admired. She also enrolled in classes and conferences, and joined a critique group. One of her favorite classes was a children’s poetry class. Cathy discovered that poetry incorporated everything she loved – words, sounds, beat, fun! Now Cathy spends her days writing and enjoys every minute of it!