meet Pam 

 

my bio

I grew up in a few places. I was born in Alamogordo, New Mexico, then my parents moved us to Benbrook, Texas. Texas is where I made my first best friend, learned to ride a bike, and went fishing at the lake. Texas is where I learn to read. The BookMobile in the summer is one of my favorite memories. After a few years, my family moved to Lancaster, California, where I discovered I had a Texan accent (who knew?). I learned California slang, how to ride a mini-bike in the Mojave Desert, and that you don’t die when the temperature gets over 105. After a few months, we moved back to Texas for a little while, and then back to California for lots of years. Now I live in Maryland (it makes me dizzy just to think about it). Two things remained consistent growing up: my love of reading and my love of art. Oh, and I have to mention animals. I’ve loved animals my whole life. When I was little, I used to talk dogs and cats into following me home, ever hopeful that my mom would bend and let me keep them.
 
I went to college at California State University, Northridge where I got my B.A. in fine art. I proceeded to do nothing whatsoever with my art degree, other than to enjoy making art (which is a very important thing when I think about it). Instead I worked lots of jobs, mostly crummy ones, until I decided that starving to death was not fun (besides I didn’t have health insurance). So I went to a technical school and learned computer programming. I did that for a few years, and luckily I met and married my husband. A very smart move, I must say. And I got two great stepkids in the bargain.
 
Right before my first child was born, I quit my programming job. There followed several blurry years of sleep deprivation, pregnancy, cute babies and kid wrangling. But having kids: reading books to them and re-entering that world, renewed my love of children’s literature. I made a decision to channel my pent-up creative energy into writing. I wrote at odd times: waiting at the dentist, ballet lessons, even at (but don’t tell my kids) baseball games. I wrote late at night at my kitchen table. I joined a critique group and the SCBWI. I got rejection letters. Quite a few, I’m proud to say (let’s hear it for battle scars!).
 
 My first book sold a few months before our family (me, my husband, four kids, two dogs and two cats) moved to Maryland. I wish I could say it’s all been smooth sailing after that first sale, but it hasn’t. What it has been, though, is an extremely worthwhile and creative endeavor. And so interesting! You meet amazing writers that become your friends (it still astonishes me, the generosity of the children’s literature community). You get to make something from nothing. With lots of elbow grease, that something becomes a book. A kid reads your book. Maybe even a kid at the BookMobile in Benbrook, Texas.
 
Not bad. Not bad at all.



 

my pets



Gizmo is the only trustworthy member of the family. 

 Frisket, our "mixed breed"  










Fred, our pet orb-weaver spider
 


 

Some Hand-outs

2-sided 1 page PDF file containing brief descriptions of my books and background.
(Right-click and select "save link as" to download)

Snazzy, hi resolution photo of me

not-so-snazzy low resolution picture of me