Nancy G West

When Nancy G West was seven years old, she and her mother wrote poems to each other on special occasions. The poetry was awful, but Nancy learned if you wrote something, people paid attention.

While in high school, Library Journal Pegasus published her poem, a feat she ranked lower than cheerleading. At eighteen, she realized she might be required to get a job.

Journalists were underpaid and English majors sold lingerie, so she studied General Business at the University of Texas (Austin and Houston), slogged through boring courses and earned a BBA. Fortunately, she took a creative writing course.

She married, had two daughters, and read numerous books on writing. She wrote articles, poetry, and the biography of artist Jose Vives-Atsara (Shoal Creek Publishers). She founded Book Publishers of Texas, produced their trade journal and promoted their books for seven years.

She created the Aggie Mundeen Mystery Series and thinks writing it is a lot more fun than accounting.