I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and attended University of Arizona, in Tucson, for undergrad. I then moved east for grad school -- at Brown University -- where I studied European Intellectual History, and received an M.A. I soon realized academia wasn't for me so I moved on to Rutgers Law in Newark, New Jersey, which, during my time there, was considered the most dangerous city in the country! While there, I wrote and published several law review articles about things like gender and the law, law and literature, and international human rights.
I spent most of my legal career as an appellate-level criminal defense attorney for indigents in New York City. While practicing law, I wrote my first novel (Swallow), which was published in December 2009. I also took up competitive ballroom dancing and started a dance blog, Swan Lake Samba Girl, journaling my somewhat pathetic experiences learning to dance as an adult. SLSG soon evolved into a chronicle of the larger concert dance scene - including ballet, modern, Broadway, and popular dance on TV. SLSG has been lauded by James Wolcott of Vanity Fair and Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal, and has been cited in those publications as well as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN.com. It's even won awards from a couple legal websites for some legal-oriented posts (I covered the Sean Bell shooting trial, for example), and for best extracurricular blog by a lawyer.
I still live in New York, where I'm working on my second novel.