I was born in Corvallis, Oregon, but when I was quite young my family moved to California and then to New Haven, Connecticut where I spent most of my childhood. When I was eleven we moved back to Berkeley when I was entering 6th grade and I’ve been a happy Californian ever since.
I grew up in a house filled with books and magazines to the point where I’m suspicious my parents were hoarders. I loved books of course and read all the time. I also wrote a few short stories, which I illustrated, because I loved drawing and art as well. I attended Berkeley High School (go Yellow Jackets!), graduating in 1980, then headed to Harvard University (go Crimson!). I started off as a Pre-Med student because in high school biology was one of my favorite subjects, but by the end of my second year I quickly realized that I hated
all my Pre-Med classes. Looking back perhaps I should’ve just majored in Biology, but at the time I rejected Pre-Med so strongly that I made a sharp turn and concentrated in American History and Literature, two other favorite subjects in high school. That major was a better fit.
My freshman year I became an editor of the Harvard Lampoon, the first black woman ever elected to the organization, and this is where I spent the majority of my time outside of class. Some friends who graduated ahead of me had moved to Hollywood to write for television. Without any real idea of what I wanted to do with my life I decided to give Hollywood a try, vowing that if within two years I didn’t get work as a writer I’d go to graduate school and get a Ph.D. in… who knows? As it happens I did get work, and I’ve been a TV writer and producer ever since. Check out my IMBD page if you’re interested in an up to date list of my credits.
In the meantime I also married a wonderful man who I met while I was on the Lampoon, and together we had three children. While pregnant with my third child I was taking a hiatus from TV writing. I’d been reading my favorite children’s novels to my older children and was reminded just how much I loved those stories. So I started crafting a novel, the sort of novel that I loved reading when I was a kid. A year and a half later I’d written The Golden Hour, a time travel story, which then became a trilogy with Hour of the Cobra and Hour of the Outlaw. Now whenever I’m not working on a television show I’m working on a novel. I expect that I will continue to write until the day I die. Or maybe I won’t die… after all technology is making all kinds of advances these days. A hundred years from now I could still be alive, producing books and hologram shows as Cyborg Maiya. I’m an optimist!