DANIELLE'S STORY

I was born in Cape Town, South Africa and moved to the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts just before Kindergarten. Talk about culture shock! After college, I craved sun and settled in Miami, Florida, where I now live with my husband and kids.

Growing up, I played the French horn, guitar, and clarinet (okay, only for six weeks). I also took dance, ice skating and pottery classes and that's just to name a few. I have three younger sisters and a brother, so there was always something going on in my house. My basement was a 'stage' to showcase homemade plays, build elaborate forts and reenact school lunchroom scenes with Barbie dolls.

My first book, Mommy Can I go to the Zoo, was eighty-seven words and only one copy was printed by Mrs. Peterson, my first grade teacher and her trusty lamination machine. That's all I needed to fall in love with writing. But if you ask my parents, they'll say I really got my start taping up "I hate you" notes around the house whenever I was mad at them. After that, I churned out angst poetry and kept a humorous observation journal about daily happenings. In college, I wanted to be a writer and an actor, but eventually the writing side of me took over (and I can barely sing Happy Birthday in tune), so I earned a degree in Creative Writing from Emerson College. From there, I continued my studies at Emerson and received a Masters in Marketing Communications & Advertising. During those years, I was a DJ on the world music show, the Gyroscope at WERS Boston 88.9 FM. I also interned at several commercial radio stations and even wrote public service announcements.

Upon moving to Miami, I worked in copywriting and as a middle school English/Creative Writing teacher before I decided to share my stories full time. After my first son was born, I joined a critique group and finished my novel, For Clarissa's Eyes Only which now remains locked in a drawer. I eventually signed on with my amazing agent, Rosemary Stimola of the Stimola Literary Studio and she helped my novel, Shrinking Violet, find a home at MTV/Pocket Books. Check out my second and third novel from Flux, Indigo Blues, and Pure Red!