My most recent books are Desperado's Wife: A Memoir (as soon on Katie Couric on July 9, 2013) and the soon-to-be-released story of Anne Willan's life, the memoir One Souffle at a Time, with Anne Willan (St. Martin's Press, September 2013).

I've been writing for as long as I can remember, inspired first by trying to give voice to those who are voiceless. This has been the unconscious impetus behind all three of my memoirs and much of the fiction and short stories and thousands of essays I've written.

I worked for years as a newspaper columnist in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and I still write (since 1992) the internationally syndicated newspaper feature Tell Me A Story that has spawned two books and three audiobooks.

I now live in Los Angeles and teach memoir and personal essay classes at UCLA Extension, The Skirball Cultural Arts Center, Idyllwild School of the Arts Summer Program, and PEN USA's Pen in the Classroom program.