Born and educated in the Midwest, I traveled East after college to get my feet wet in the world of New York publishing. Though I’d had an excellent start in publishing in Ohio at an imprint of the textbook publisher Prentice Hall, where I was blessed to work with Kevin Davis, the best first-publishing boss and mentor one could wish for, it was time to expand my experience, publishing and otherwise. Besides becoming schooled in editing, I moved to New York City to pursue my two favorite pastimes—eating and walking. The more you walk, the more you can eat. And what better place to do both?

In less than two weeks after arriving in New York, I landed a position at my dream publisher, Harry N. Abrams, which gave me a good foundation in all aspects of bringing illustrated books from manuscript to printed book. I learned an immeasurable amount from Executive Editor Julia Moore and numerous other talented editors and designers, in-house and freelance, while there.

After the textbook properties at Abrams were sold to Pearson Education, I became an editor at another illustrated book publisher in NYC, Watson-Guptill. My time at Watson-Guptill was a period of creative development—while there I originated the flip-book concept for The Making of a Graphic Novel by the talented artist Prentiss Rollins—and I learned the basics of developmental editing. As at Abrams, I learned much from talented editorial colleagues and from freelance designers—and, in particular, from Senior Editor Joy Aquilino, who has a generous spirit.

Some six years after moving to NYC, I relocated to the rural state of Vermont to take an editorial position with Tuttle Publishing, a venerable publisher with a niche in all subjects Asian, including cooking. There I gained experience in acquiring books, with guidance from Publisher Eric Oey, conceptualized and directed original art programs, and honed a specialty in cookbook editing—the perfect expression of all my interests and skills.

Inspired by the Vermont’s vital, diverse farming scene, my partner Mike and I decided to get ourselves some acreage on which to grow our own food and keep chickens and bees. In 2009 I began working as a freelancer to give me the time and flexibility to focus increasingly on writing and on farm-to-kitchen projects, such as making cheese, yogurt, kefir, and crème fraîche and putting food up via pickling, canning, and freezing.

Sometimes daunting, and always trial and error, this first-time “farming” venture got my hands dirty and gave me a new understanding and appreciation for how food is made, an invaluable complement to editing cookbooks and writing about food.

In the fall of 2013, after having a wonderful eight-year run in Vermont, benefiting immensely from the rich agricultural traditions and lively food scene in the Green Mountain State, we relocated to Richmond, Virginia, happily putting me in close proximity to my culinary passions, including buckwheat cakes, stone-ground grits, collards, and country ham. Added bonus: You can get big whiffs of boxwood in this part of the country.

Next lodgings? Since 2019, we’ve put up residence in a small village in France, in the Loire Valley. Because even though you can only eat where you live, with the Internet and digital files, you can edit anywhere you please.