I was born in Denver and, for the most part, lived in Colorado my entire life. The exceptions occurred when my family traveled abroad with my father, who served in the U.S. Air Force for more than 20 years. My mother, brother and I returned to Denver before I started kindergarten. We stayed here while my father continued various deployments around the world.
My passion for writing began with a love of reading, and I credit my mother for that. In addition to reading to us daily, she dictated nursery rhymes and fairy tales into an old reel-to-reel tape recorder and played those recordings for us rather than allowing us to sit in front of the TV.
My grade school had a summer reading program. Students were given lined slips of paper and encouraged to list the titles of at least eight books they read during break. I loved that assignment! Each week, I would walk to the neighborhood library with an empty, folded grocery bag tucked under my arm. A few hours later, I would leave the library with the bag stuffed with books that would whisk me off to new adventures via my imagination. I would the following week with all books read, and that is how I would spend my summer.
I’ve wanted to write stories since I was about four years old. My parents weren’t thrilled with my dream of pursuing a full-time career as an author. To please them, I embarked on a career in public relations instead. I wrote on the side and took craft classes at Lighthouse Writers in Denver, but the dream of being an author never died.
I dabbled in several genres, but finally found my voice writing middle grade fiction. My novel, Control Freaks, was published in 2023 under the name J.E. Thomas and earned the CAL award for middle grade fiction, recognition I’m honored to receive.
My second book, The AI Incident, will be released in July 2025. This book deals with some of the thorny issues of AI. Among the questions raised (but not answered) are, Can you really be friends with AI?
Both of my books are set in Denver’s Park Hill neighborhood. In addition to focusing on standard middle school complications such as making friends and being popular, they also tackle broader concerns such as blended family angst, foster care system and the impact of technology on human well-being.