Biography

I was born in Comox, British Columbia and spent my childhood hanging out at the beach sailing or hiking in the mountains.

I love to travel and spent four years cruising aboard our 30' sailboat and visiting Alaska, B.C.'s north coast, Mexico, Central America and the eastern seaboard of the U.S. That experience made us decide to head out again and, after five years spent planning and building, our little family of three; my husband Evan (who illustrates many of my travel stories with his gorgeous photos), our seven year old daughter Maia (who reluctantly poses for many of the pictures) and Charlie the kitten (who hasn't yet found his purpose) are about to move aboard our 40' Catamaran and set sail for the South Pacific.

I've always wanted to be a writer, but somewhere along the line I got the idea that I could never pay off a student loan on a writer's income.  So I trained as a Recreation Therapist and spent several years on a community mental health team. One day I sent a story off to a magazine and got a cheque by return mail - the thrill of seeing myself in print was born.  

Since then I've learned to almost stand up on a surf board, mastered laying up fibreglass, canoed down a northern fur trade river and spent a day on a police boat looking for yacht thieves - all for the sake of a good story.

I'm still excited every time I publish a story and realize that people are actually reading what I have to say. Writing really is the coolest job ever.

Diane in a Cave