I recently \"down-shifted\" (not retired) from my position as the copy-desk chief of the newspaper of Nevada\'s capital, Carson City. I edited stories and managed the page-design staff.
I own 10 acres of sagebrush, and can hike for miles outside my back door in desert mountains. Lake Tahoe is less than an hour away, and the Southern Sierra, with its 14,000-foot peaks, is relatively nearby.
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and earned a bachelor\'s degree in English literature from the University of California at Berkeley in 1977.
I worked for newspapers for 32 years, in the Bay then in rural Grass Valley in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada for almost 25 years.
I never married, and am childless by (early)choice.
I have traveled all over the continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, Southern Africa, Northern Europe, Thailand, Cambodia, Mexico, Central America, and Peru.

I am a passionate outdoorswoman, and live in the recreational paradise of Northern Nevada, near both the desert and Sierra Nevada mountains.
I spend a month a year in a sleeping bag, but I never camp in campgrounds if I can help it. I hike 200-300 miles a year.
I know a lot about the natual history of the West and Southwest U.S., and am well-traveled abroad and in the U.S.
I love cats, and at one time had seven on my rural property.
I am a committed reader of first-rate fiction, and have an intellect best described as \"eclectic.\"
I \"know a little bit about everything,\" and as such, writing for Blurtit is an deal outlet for me.