Michelle was born and raised in Metro-Detroit in what her Polish-born friend labeled an “all-American family”. Throughout her childhood, which she admits was
relatively uneventful, she loved to read and make up stories. Yet her dream was to become a cosmetologist. Countless Barbies (and a few close friends) fell victim to her shears and color experimentation's. She started cosmetology school the fall after she graduated high school, but quickly realized it wasn't for her. She quit after three months and became a true a beauty school drop out.
Her “what next” turned out to be marriage and family. To escape the craziness that sometimes came with being a stay-at-home mom, she read voraciously and became the queen of crafts. Crocheting, sewing, needlepoint--you name it, she tried it. By the time baby number three was two years old, she was completely burned out. Something was missing. She had all this creative energy and no where to vent it. She finally decided to try her hand at writing.
Her first manuscript, a young adult romance, took over a year to write. The second, another YA, she wrote longhand while running daycare in her home. In the next year she wrote two more. Still, something didn’t feel right. She needed to find her niche. The turning point came when her mom gave her Jennifer Crusie’s first hard cover release, Tell Me Lies. She was so taken by it, she wanted to read more. She found what she was looking for in the category romance section of her local used book store.
But, category romance? Those aren’t REAL books, right? She read every Jenny Crusie book she could find and loved them all, then moved onto other authors. Finally it clicked. She knew THIS was what she wanted to do. She joined Romance Writers of America, and her local chapter in 2000, Greater Detroit RWA, of which she has remained an active member.
In 2003--eight years after making the decision to write--with over 100 rejections from editors and agents, Michelle sold her first book-length manuscript to Silhouette Desire. Since then she has published over 25 books with Harlequin and Silhouette and has no intention of slowing down any time soon. Most days you can find her in her office, curled up with her laptop, loving the fact that she can work in her pajamas.
