Who I am: writer; child of the North Dakota prairie; wife; grandmother; retired urban social worker; outdoor woman; reader; compulsive multitasker; citizen lobbyist for early childhood and maternal health.

What I do: write; advocate; read; share a home with my husband and cat; text and email children and grandchildren; chair a committee; have coffee with friends; listen to music; call my sisters. And always there is writing.

Some favorites: LaRose (Louise Erdrich); My Name is Lucy Barton (Elizabeth Strout); The Pickup (Nadine Gordimer); There There (Tommy Orange); Gilead (Marilynne Robinson); Hamnet (Maggie O’Farrell)