Please contact me directly at [email protected]. I’ve always been a storyteller in some form. Even as a journalist/PR professional, I preferred sharing people’s life stories in feature articles as opposed to writing “hard” news. In 2001, I left my job to stay home with my kids and pursue my dream of writing books for children. My articles about everyday faith appear in my church bulletin and our local newspaper. Publication of my fiction stories still eludes me, but I’ve won a grant and some writing contests. The Kimberly Colen Work-in-Progress grant I received from the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) inspires and motivates me to complete the third round of revisions to my YA manuscript THE SPACE BETWEEN. Raised in W. Pennsylvania, I attended the University of Dayton, Ohio where I graduated with a B.A. in Communications (Journalism concentration/English minor). To learn the craft of fiction writing, I enrolled in and completed the Institute of Children’s Literature’s Writing for Children and Teenagers course. I’ve also attended the week-long Wesleyan Writer’s Workshop at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.; local and national SCBWI workshops, including a day at Whispering Pines in RI; and the Westport Writers Workshop. In addition to the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, I’m a member of the Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association (CAPA) where I’ve served on the board and helped plan the day-long CAPA-University. Currently, I moderate a SCBWI-affiliated Young Adult online critique group that I joined in 2007 and I previously moderated a face-to-face critique group through SCBWI.