Kate Coombs

[excerpted from the author's website]
I'm a lifelong bookworm, which is the best way to learn to be an author. As a bookworm, I found that sometimes my parents and teachers interrupted my reading in order to get me to do other things, like eat or sleep or do schoolwork or chores.

In between reading, I babysat my little brother and sister, learned to play the clarinet and oboe, took art classes, went camping, and began to write. I wrote little plays with parts like the Glorious Queen for me and the Quiet Servant Girl for my sister. During my Nancy Drew reading phase, I wrote a mystery with a heroine who was eerily similar to Nancy. After I was about 10, I mostly wrote poetry. In high school, I considered becoming a professional oboist or an artist, but I ended up majoring in English when I got to college. I had never stopped reading children's books, and I used to study in the college library right next to the children's bookshelves so I could take breaks to read those books. They were way more fun than my class assignments! I began writing short stories in my twenties, almost always fantasy. I also kept writing poetry.

After college I worked as an editor and an educator. I got a bilingual teaching credential in Los Angeles, where I taught lots of little Latino kids. Later I worked as a home teacher, driving around L.A. to teach seriously ill students. I've taught college writing classes, too, which means I've taught students in grades K through 13. Most recently, I got a master's degree as a Reading Specialist so I can help students who are having a real struggle learning to read.

I now live in Utah, where the snow still seems surprising every year and the deer hang out in our backyard. I am still a bookworm, but I am also an author, and both things make me very happy!