I’ve been writing as long as I can remember — from the time I picked up a crayon and starting writing my ABCs. I used to write short stories when I was a wee kidlet and “auction” them off to my family for like a quarter or something. My sister asked me recently why I did that. Who knows? Maybe I was gearing up for my publishing days? LOL!

My inspiration for being a writer was my grandmother Helen (a writer herself), who taught me early on to use my imagination. She said that our imaginations could take us to far away worlds and we could be anyone we wanted to be. And what a tool this imagination thing was! I wondered if everyone knew about this!

My imagination carried me to creating a whole world in my room with my many, many stuffed animals called “Animaltown,” complete with families, a mayor, a school, and frequent beauty pageants. On my brother’s Royal typewriter (complete with manual carriage return and no correction tape…hello, it was the late 70s!), I typed out the full names (of course everyone had middle names) of all my stuffed animal families from oldest to youngest. We had weddings and births and proms and New Year’s Eve parties (stay with me…this gives you an idea of where my professional career is headed) and Animaltown even had a high school with a football team, cheerleaders, and a school paper. I used  write the paper, complete with articles, gossip, and pictures.

In kindergarten, I’d write stories nearly every day.  I’d make them into illustrated books and bind them with brackets or braided ribbon. Always a voracious reader, I plowed through all the classics at least ten times each. In a summer reading contest, I took first prize in my age group for reading th most books and won a stuffed frog and a $50 gift certificate.

At the age of twelve, I discovered romance novels when I snuck into my sister’s room and swiped her Kathleen Woodiwiss and Colleen McCollough books. I devoured stories like  Ashes in the Wind and The Thorn Birds. Then, I fell head over heels for the First Love line by Silhouette. Sure, I’d been sneaking my older sister’s Harlequin and Silhouette books, but I knew these First Love books were meant just for me – in my blooming teenage years. Stories of ordinary girls in all-American cities hanging with their friends, meeting boys, doing teenage things and falling in love for the first time. I was moved to write one myself  and managed to churn out 50, single-spaced pages of what I considered a “complete” book.  And when First Love announced a contest for cover models, I was there. They wanted “regular looking” teens from across America to compete and win a cover. My mother snapped ton of pictures of me in my grandmother’s backyard – me with my long, winged-banged hair, white painter pants and a lot of cheesy poses.  It was the 80s, what can I say?

In high school, I was involved up to my eyeballs in extra-curricular activities: varsity cheerleader, first trumpet in the marching/concert band, honor society, class officer, high school sorority, head photographer for yearbook staff, girl’s softball, and more.   I also took tap, toe, ballet, jazz, gymnastics, and baton.  I’m still a little bitter that my mother sold my cheerleading pom poms and my batons in a garage sale.

The summer between ninth and tenth grades was challenging as I discovered I had cancer (in my  left leg – periosteal osteosarcoma – and had to spend a month in the hospital undergoing three surgeries, chemo, and radiation). My imagination kept me going and I remember telling my mother I could write a story about it one day. I lost all of my hair, but it was the year our football team decided to shave their heads because they thought it made them “tougher.” So, all the opposing schools just thought one of the cheerleaders had so much school spirit, that she shaved her head, too.

Senior year, saw me named Senior’s Who’s Who as “Most School Spirit” and “Most Talented.” And okay…I got “Most Talkative,” too, but we won’t go there.

After graduation, I began college at The University of Alabama. I had a great college experience. I was a Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity sister, a member of Alpha Xi Delta sorority, was on the school Spirit Committee, on the SGA and active in politics. My best buddy and I spent hours riding around Tuscaloosa, singing songs, and hanging out with the football players. The Crimson Tide football team wasn’t very stellar in my years, but I still enjoyed the road trips and atmosphere of SEC football.  Nothing like it in the world.

After college, I moved to Washington D.C. and worked on Capitol Hill in my first job (which happened to be for my parents’ congressman). I booked tours for constituents, handled military academy appointments, wrote correspondence, got the congressman cheeseburgers and milk for lunch and even had the opportunity to drive his Mercedes out to Arlington to collect a lawnmower part for him. (Just don’t ask me to tell you about the Thanksgiving turkey he left in said Mercedes that his wife found…at Easter!) It was a great first job out of college and I was living in DC!   I loved the history of the area and the architechture.  So many awesome restaurants and activities in the DC area.  Plus, my sister lived in Baltimore, so it was great to have family nearby, as well.

After D.C., I moved to Austin, Texas where I worked for the local congressman, J.J. “Jake” Pickle. On a daily basis, I would churn out  letters on the congressman’s behalf. It was our job as caseworkers to help with any problems with federal agencies and facilitate communication for our constituents.  I was definitely putting my writing skills to work every day in that job.

In 1993, I moved to back to the place of my birth:  Boston.. Through the years, I worked as an event planner (utilizing my experience from the proms and beauty pageants I planned in Animaltown), in the health care industry, financial, building, and the higher education arenas. I did a five year stint in the dot.com world before it went dot.bomb, but in the back of my head, during all of my events, tradeshows, conferences, and traveling, I longed to write. Stories had been building in my head for years, through experiences and the people I’d met along the way and the things I’d observed.

In January 2001, I stepped away from the high stress dot.bomb world and declared I was either going to go to cooking school or start writing seriously. After investigating cooking schools (and learning that it cost $35k, I’d be on my feet all day, and I would gain 50 pounds), I decided I would like to sit in solitude and write the stories about the characters who lived in my imagination. I could do what my grandmother Helen always told me to do. So, I started writing. And writing. And writing. When I finished the first novel, it was 863 pages of vignettes put together without a plot or character development, goal, motivation or conflict. Well, not enough conflict to sustain 863 pages.  But I was writing.

I joined the Romance Writers of America, started going to conferences, entered contests, and networked. I met wonderful writers who took me under their wings and mentored me.  I also formed friendships with other aspiring authors to work together as critique partners.  I acquired my first agent, crossed my fingers as he submitted to editors, but lo and behold, we gathered a large stack of rejection letters suggesting I try some place else. Then, a friend told me I should try my hand at writing a young adult manuscript. I wasn’t convinced I could do it, but soon the character voices just started flowing.  I got a new agent with my first YA.  Six months later, she sold me to Penguin Putnam’s Puffin Speak line with the first two stories in the SORORITY 101 series, writing as Kate Harmon.  In November 2007, my agent sold my GHOST HUNTRESS series to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and everything flowed (and continues to flow) from there.

In addition to writing young adult novels, I also write non-fiction.  My book, THE OTHER SIDE:  A TEEN’S GUIDE TO GHOST HUNTING AND THE PARANORMAL was co-written with truTV’s Haunting Evidence star, Patrick Burns, and Darkness Radio’s Dave Schrader.  It’s a great companion book to my GHOST HUNTRESS series.  Also, I co-authored a book called CHRISTMAS MIRACLES with New York Times bestselling author of 90 MINUTES IN HEAVEN, Cecil Murphey, with a foreward by Don Piper.  In 2011, we have a sequel coming out called THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS, with a foreward by New York Times bestseller, Debbie Macomber.

In researching for my GHOST HUNTRESS series, I have, in essence, become a ghost huntress myself.  I have investigated many intriguing places, including Rolling Hills Sanitarium, Waverly Hills Sanitarium, The Queen Mary, Fresno Flats, The Broken Bit, The Crump Theatre, Buttonwoods Museum, The Sprague Mansion, The Houghton Mansion, and The Stanley Hotel to name a few.  I’ve had the chance to ghost hunt with pretty much all the big “paranormal celebrities” on TV including Patrick Burns, Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson, Chip Coffey, Chris Fleming, Mark and Debby Constantino, John Zaffis, Zak, Aaron, and Nick from Ghost Adventures and many more.

I still officially live in Boston, but I travel extensively (pretty much full-time) promoting my books, speaking, doing events, ghost hunting, and meeting fans.  I spend most of my “free” time writing and researching for the next book.  I’m an avid reader, closet gourmet chef, hockey fanatic, certified SCUBA diver, RV owner and driver, and I am a loyal fan to my 2009 National Championship Crimson Tide football. I’m addicted to surfing the Internet, listening to House/Dance/Trance music and not commuting to work anymore.  These days, you’ll mostly find me in flip-flops and a fancy pedicure.  I love cooking, trying new recipes, and discovering food finds in my travels.  I e-mail people way too much, drink an exorbitant amount of Diet Coke, and love spending time with my fiance (getting married 11/11/11) and partner in paranormal crime, Patrick Burns.  I’m the proud (almost) step-mom to his two boys, 12 and 10, and a very good mommy to our precious love muffin rescue kitties, Madison and Boo.