Bringing the lives of lost queens to light
My work is all about bringing medieval queens back to life, blending real history with the human details that reveal the women behind the crowns.
Honestly, I never expected to fall down this rabbit hole. It all started on a totally ordinary day in my dad’s Florida home, just putting clothes away in a dresser drawer. Out slipped an old, faded 1920s military ID card bearing a name that stopped me in my tracks: Oliver Cromwell.
That single discovery sparked a curiosity that quickly turned into years of research, following my family tree back across the Atlantic and farther into the past than I ever expected to go.
As I dug into the archives to trace how medieval power shifted between the Scottish House of Stewart and the English Plantagenets, I ran into a wall that almost made me angry. Time and again, the history books completely sidelined the women. The records treated queens like footnotes or genealogical placeholders, while the men got all the ink.
The more I researched, the clearer it became that medieval monarchy wasn't just decided on battlefields. It was driven by the sharp minds, strategic choices, and incredible resilience of women whose stories were simply ignored.
That frustration changed everything for me. What started as curiosity became a personal mission: to bridge the gap between dusty historical charts and the real, complex women who actually wore the crown.
How I Find My Women
There’s another part of my writing process I didn’t realize had a name until recently. I was talking with Nancy at Sapere Books about how I write a scene. Sometimes, when I can’t quite see it yet, I literally lie down on the floor, close my eyes, and let it begin to play out in my head. I see my women in the room. I watch what they do. I listen to what they say. And I stay there until I 'see' the scene as it's happening.
When I finally have it, I jump up and quickly get the words recorded. Sometimes that's on an envelope, sometimes a napkin (a couple of times I used up a lipstick liner!), or talk it into the notes on my phone if that's on me. My closet now has a vast collection of pens scattered, just in case.
Nancy listened to this (not the recorded places) and said, “That’s hot seating.”
My response was immediate.
“It has a name?”
Apparently, it does.
I’d done theater in school, but no one had ever taught me this. I hadn’t learned it in a writing class, either. Somewhere along the way, it simply became how I found my characters.
Maybe that’s why I call Joan, Euphemia, Annabella, and the others “my women.”
Before I can write their world, I have to spend a little time there with them.
So if anyone ever catches me lying on the floor with my eyes closed, I’m not napping. I’m working.
Why These Women Matter to Me
The deeper I went into my family history, the more fascinated I became by the women I found along the way. Again and again, I could trace who they married, whose daughter they were, and whose children they bore, while the women themselves seemed to slip quietly out of the story.
The queens were no different.
Their marriages could alter alliances. Their families connected kingdoms. Their choices, loyalties, and relationships mattered. And yet so often, I was left wanting to know the simplest things: Who was she? What was her life actually like?
Those questions are what keep me researching, and ultimately, what led me to fiction. I may never know everything these women thought, felt, or said, but I can begin with what history left us and build their worlds around them as honestly as I can.
That is what I hope to do with my books: bring these women out of the margins and let readers meet them again.
You can explore their stories on the Books page.
Click the photo to see the family tree details.
Life Beyond the Page
I live on a quiet lake in Central Florida, where life is considerably quieter than the worlds I write about. When I’m not researching or writing, I practice Yin Yoga, spend time with my daughters, and am usually accompanied by my little white dog.
After spending much of the day with medieval queens, nobles, and all their complications, I’m rather fond of coming home to the lake.
Sapere Books Sign New Scottish Queens Series
“Working with Sapere Books is a perfect match, as their commitment to historical fiction and their passion for bringing forgotten stories to light resonates deeply with me. These women had little control over their destinies, yet their strength and adaptability are fascinating. It drives me to tell the world their stories so that their legacies are remembered.” READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE
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Get To Know The Forgotten Queens
Conversations with the Queens, is a FREE companion to my upcoming novels. It’s a blend of history, imagination, and the emotional truth these women carried.
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Get To Know The Forgotten Stewart Queens
Conversations with the Queens, is a FREE companion to my upcoming novels. It’s a blend of history, imagination, and the emotional truth these women carried.
Whether you’re drawn to forgotten women, Scottish history, or simply a good story, I hope these conversations stay with you the way they’ve stayed with me.
After you have signed up, be sure to click the confirmation email so the ebook and Inner Court letters can reach you.