BIO
BORN: March 26, 1955, in Long Beach, CA. I was adopted at birth by an older couple. Albert C. Wagner was 72 at the time; Valeria was 42. To put that into perspective, he was born in 1883 and she was born in 1912.
GREW UP: in Palm Springs, CA, in a neighborhood with movie stars and entertainment icons, including Elvis Presley, Bob Hope, Kirk Douglas and Arnold Palmer. We were, however, the “poor rich.” My father made his money in the steel industry in WWII. I remember the day he had actually earned his million. As a poor immigrant child who was most definitely a self-made man with a 6th grade education, he couldn’t have been prouder.
LEARNED: from my father the value of hard work and honesty. From my mother, I learned a love of language and reading. She inhaled literature and read to me every day from the time I was a baby until I finally told her to quit already. She also had me reading chapter books before kindergarten.
FOUND: my birth mother, Toni Chandler, in the year 2000. One interesting side note is that she wrote poetry her entire life. I have a half-sister, Fran, who I connected with a few years ago. She lived with my mom in Michigan, until Toni’s recent passing, and we stay in regular touch. My birth father’s identity is unknown.
MOVED: to the Santa Ynez Valley, near Santa Barbara, my 8th grade summer. The high school is relatively small, and my parents thought it would be a more wholesome atmosphere. The valley is a “horsey” place and I did, in fact, own horses until I moved to the Tahoe area in 1985. I showed, jumped, rode gymkhana and barrel raced.
IN SCHOOL: I was a straight A student almost all the way through school. With an excellent private school background through 8th grade, it was fairly easy to maintain those grades all the way through high school, despite a certain renegade attitude (70s rebel and all that!). I was the type who could read a chapter in a book and pass a test, even without the classroom discussion necessary for some.
STARTED WRITING: From the time I knew how to put words on paper. I’ve always been writing something (especially poetry) ever since, although I didn’t start writing for money until around 1992.
PUBLISHED: my first poem, a brilliant haiku (I’m pretty sure there were trees and springtime in it), when I was nine. I was always encouraged by my English teachers to write and won pretty much every creative writing contest I ever entered all the way through high school.
GRADUATED: Santa Ynez Valley Union High School in 1973. Went on to study journalism in college (Crafton Hills College and UCSB) but dropped out to get married and start a family.
CHILDREN: Had my first child, Jason, when I was just 21. He was born in 1976. Cristal followed two years later.
DIVORCED: When Cristal was still a baby in diapers. My ex moved to Albuquerque. He passed away a few years ago.
REBOUND RELATIONSHIP: Met my daughter, Kelly’s, father on the rebound. He was very much a not-nice man. The relationship was physically abusive and lasted far longer than it should have. When I finally found the courage to make a break, he kidnapped Kelly against court orders and hid her for almost three years. Finally, his own grandmother helped us get her back. That’s a long story, too long to tell here. You can find a fictionalized version in The You I’ve Never Known.
OWNED MY OWN BUSINESS: During this time, I was the owner of Valley Video, a video store before video got big. Sold out in 1984.
“FOREVER LOVE”: found me during this time. I met John Hopkins, and we moved to the Tahoe area in 1985. Wanting to be sure it would all work out, I insisted we wait to get married until October 19, 1991. We’ve survived good, bad, amazing, and horrible and come out stronger. He is still, and always, my best friend.
WE MOVED: To Northern Nevada, in a rural valley between Reno and Carson City, in 1990. The house was modest, but as my career grew, so did our home. We remodeled it into something beautiful and created a hilltop oasis where we lived for thirty-three years. We thought we’d probably stay there forever, but when daughter Kelly and her family moved to Tennessee, we decide we should move closer to them, and in February 2023 we downsized, packed our bags, and bought a lovely log home on five wooded acres in Missouri.
DURING OUR NORTHERN NV TIME: I decided to try and write for a living. I started freelancing newspaper and magazine articles. Moved from there into children’s nonfiction, publishing twenty titles before I sold my first novel. I was always trying different things—picture books, early chapter books, etc., and I wrote an entire adult novel which didn’t sell then. I also taught creative part time as an artist-in-residence; owned my own little publishing company, which did a newspaper for children; and was an instructor for the Institute of Children’s Literature. And I did all those things simultaneously, searching for where I belonged as a writer.
THE REAL STORY: behind Crank took place between the years 1995 and 1971. “Hunter,” aka Orion, was born in 1996. We took guardianship of him when he was just a baby and adopted him when he was not quite four years old. He is the light of our lives (as well as the biggest pain!) and a true gift. He knows the whole story, of course, but considers us his parents, and we consider him our son. He’s currently producing some conceptually stunning music.
FAMILY REVISION: In 2013 we took guardianship of three grandchildren, who were at that time three, four and nine years old. The eldest is now nineteen and lives with his mom in Reno. Daughter Kelly has adopted the youngest. The middle guy is still with us and just started high school here in MO.
RANDOM FACTOIDS:
My parents were Republicans (he was a businessman, after all). But I knew from the time I did mock elections in 7th grade that I was a born Dem. Bobby Kennedy was my hero. His death, coupled with MLK’s death and the conflict in Viet Nam, forged my politics.
And on that subject, I’m an active member of the Democratic party and served as a Nevada caucus chair in 2008. What an amazing experience! I am also an outspoken progressive activist and feminist.
I was raised a card-carrying Lutheran. However, over the years, my beliefs have morphed into some combination of Christianity and spirituality. I do believe the energy that makes us “us” never dies and is more than just random electrical impulses in a hunk of gray matter.
One of the things I love most about being home is gardening. I do veggies and continually modify beds of flowers and evergreens. Working in the yard is one way I unwind and counter occasional bouts of writers’ block.
I love to cook and often bake homemade bread, cinnamon rolls, etc. I also can fruit and vegetables. I make one killer salsa, and much of my vegetable garden is devoted to those ingredients.
Pre-COVID, I traveled around 100 days a year, doing school and library visits, book signings and festivals, writers conferences, and other events. That slowed to a halt for a while but is picking up again. I doubt I’ll choose to travel that much, but you never know.
Currently, I hold the not entirely enviable title of “Most Banned Author in America.” All fourteen of my young adult novels have been removed from school, and in some cases, public libraries in some parts of the country. I continue to be a strong supporter of the first amendment and soldier in the anti-book banning army.