I grew up in Kingston, Ontario, and my early education included three years of home-schooling. From the age of five, I belonged to an independent Charismatic church that my parents helped to establish in 1978.

I completed a B.A. in English and Chemistry at Redeemer University College in Hamilton, Ontario. While at Redeemer, I worked for two years as Assistant Editor and Editor for the CROWN, the student newspaper.

I started writing fiction at Redeemer for several creative writing courses I completed with Hugh Cook. My poem "Communion Sunday" took third place for poetry in the 1995 Conference on Christianity and Literature Student Writing Contest. "Communion Sunday" and another poem, "The Fall", were published in Mars Hill Review in 1996.

In September 1996, my partner, Shawn, and I moved to Calgary, Alberta, and I commenced studies for my M.A. in English. I started writing Brick and Mortar in my advanced fiction workshop, which was led by Aritha van Herk, and continued work on the book full-time in my second year at the University of Calgary, with Aritha as my thesis supervisor.

I continue to write fiction, and my short fiction has appeared in Descant (November 2001), Grain (May 2003), and the anthology The Company We Keep (June 2004). I gave a paper titled "Bearing Witness: The Christian Writer As Other" at the Open Book and Scholarship conference at Redeemer University College in August 2000. I was also a speaker at the Wheaton College Writing and Literature Conference in September 2002, and the Houghton College Writing Festival in March 2005.

I participated in a writing workshop led by Ottawa writer Richard Taylor in the spring of 1999, which helped introduce me to the local writing community. Rick Taylor served as a liaison with Oberon Press, which accepted my manuscript for Brick and Mortar in May 2000. The book was nominated for the Ottawa Book Award in 2001.

I now work part-time as a technical editor, and devote time off to my own writing. Shawn and I are active members of Common Ground Cohousing.