I grew up with people who loved to tell stories, and that inspired me to write my own. My stories often reflect the tales I heard as a kid, the people I knew, and my experiences growing up as a Latina.

I was born and raised in Pueblo, Colorado. My maternal grandparents came from Mexico.

I was the first in my family to complete college obtaining a Bachelor’s of Science in Mass Communications with a psychology minor from the University of Southern Colorado (now Colorado State University Pueblo). 

I worked as a news reporter for several years in newspaper, mostly at the Times-News and with KMVT-TV in Twin Falls. As a journalist, I won honors from the Utah-Idaho-Spokane Associated Press Association, Society of Professional Journalists Northwest, and Idaho Press Club, among others. I was also named a Newspaper Association of American New Media Fellow in 2007. For many years, I covered courts and crimes.

That was my day job. At night, I wrote fiction.

I am the author of Felicity Carrol and the Perilous Pursuit and Felicity Carrol and the Murderous Menace (Crooked Lane Books); the courtroom drama Verdict in the Desert, published by Arte Público Press, the largest US publisher of contemporary and recovered literature by US Hispanic authors and affiliated with the University of Houston; Under the Blood Moon (Dark Ink); a YA novel Best Amigas (Fitzroy Books); Misbehaving at Cactus Lanes (One More Chapter-HarperCollins); and YA novel, Trini’s Magic Kitchen (Arte Público Press)

I have received Alexa Rose Foundation Grants to direct my original play, Tears for Llorona, inspired by an old Mexican ghost story, and to workshop my play, Starring Jane Eyre at the Stagecoach Theater in Boise in May, 2023. I also wrote radio versions of the Llorona and Jane Eyre plays that aired on Radio Boise.  Pioneer Drama Service has published my play, Roja Ridin’ in the Hood and Other Tales, based on my award-winning children’s book, Red Ridin’ in the Hood and Other Cuentos (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

I am a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

My new play, PLEA made to the second round in the Austin Film Festival competition.

My screenplays have won the Willamette Writers Kay Snow and Reel Women of the West Screenplay contests, as well as placing in the top percentage of the Seattle Film Summit, Phoenix Film Festival, Stage 32 Blood List, and MORE Women in Film competitions.

I have also led presentations at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Boise State University, The Cabin Literary Center in Boise, and Horror University, as well as at the Willamette Writers, Idaho Writers Guild, Historical Novel Society, and Pacific Northwest Writers Association conferences.