danielle's Bio
The short of it: I’m a romance writer, historian, allergy-free food blogger, and mom to both a human and a fur baby. I love cooking and baking, gardening for hummingbirds and bees, and travelling to random small towns in rickety, humid buses in countries where I speak the language poorly, but people are nice enough to let me muddle through. In fact, those are often the best places to find inspiration for my novels!
The long of it:
The long of it: I’ve always been a big book nerd, and grew up raiding my parents’ bookshelves every time I ran out of things to read. On the one hand, my mom tended to read more contemporary bestsellers, while my dad leaned towards pre-Soviet Russian writers, philosophers, and literary fiction. By the time I was fourteen, I’d read stuff ranging from Dostoyevsky, Kafka, and Tolstoy to Margaret Atwood, Stephen King, and The Joy of Sex (thanks for that, folks. It was a real score as a kid to find that hidden in the back of the shelf, and I feel like it’s stood me in good stead in my writing career 😉 )
It was only natural that I would write short stories and poetry in high school, and go on to do a BA in English Lit (with extra credits in Classics like the uber-nerd I am). I put myself through my undergrad working by day at a greenhouse and various other jobs (legal recruiter, technical writer, waitress, ESL tutor, I’ve done it all!) and by night as a professional belly dancer in Greek and Middle Eastern restaurants and at weddings and birthday parties. I’ve also taught dance classes off and on for almost twenty years.
(That’s me over there in all my finery)
When I finished my BA I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to be when I grew up, so on impulse I signed up to go to Egypt for a few months to complete intensive studies in Arabic, and to travel the Middle East, of course! When I came back, I completed an MA in History with a focus on dancers in Egyptian cinema.
During that time, I met my husband and fellow hermit-like nomadic creature. The two of us happily ensconced ourselves in our apartment with our fluffy old cat for days at a time. For years he has kindly and patiently tried to create writing schedules for me and impose some order on my otherwise totally random and scattered brain.
(Oh look, there I am on safari in the Western Desert outside of Siwa, Egypt!)
However, the birth of our human baby has since thrown any semblance of order out the window.
(That’s me again, in the midst of chaos, horribly sleep-deprived, but much snuggled.)
In 2009 I discovered I was allergic to a whole lot of things – trees, dust, a ridiculous amount of fresh fruit and vegetables and nuts, as well as gluten. I love to cook and had a heck of a time trying to figure out how to convert my recipes to be gluten free and healthy. So I started a food blog… which led to three allergy-free cookbooks. You can find my recipes and food allergy / eco-living articles on my food blog Poor and Gluten Free. Â
Of course, you can stay updated on all my other stuff by subscribing to my email list below, and I’ll send you occasional emails with things like sneak peeks of cover reveals, free chapters, bonus material, and advance notice of giveaways.
(Those gluten free vegan cupcakes over there? They’re ridiculously delicious. You can find the recipe here. )
