My start with web design had a very practical beginning. I had just published my first novel (Settler’s Law, Berkley Westerns – Penguin Putnam, 1999) and the advice was to get a website.

I decided to take a class at the local college that promised we would build a simple website by the end of the semester. When the instructor started writing HTML on the board, I began to despair. I would never learn that strange gibberish! Luckily, our instructor was great and within a few classes I was not only making websites, but I was loving it. I continued to take computer classes at the college and still do when something new comes along. There have been a lot of changes — I’ve gone from hand-coding entire sites in HTML to learning the newest WordPress techniques. I love that there is a combination of technical skills, artistic elements, design and literary elements in nearly every site, so I never get bored. Building and maintaining websites has led me down other branches of the modern technology road, such as email newsletters, blogs, content production and social media.