Originally from south-central Pennsylvania, I currently call Maryland home, where I live with my husband of 22 years, Marcus, along with our kitty, Charlie. Marcus and I were married on February 14, 2002, on the beach of Sanibel Island off the west coast of Florida. It was a magical time and to this day, he’s my very best friend, my partner in crime, my soul mate. I am blessed indeed. For more than 20 years, I worked in the communications field as a graphic artist and design editor at a newspaper, then writer and managing editor of several corporate in-house magazines.

In 2002, I decided to go to graduate school to pursue a master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling, which I received in 2006. I worked as a therapist for about five years, during which I was disappointed to discover that being a therapist was not a good career fit for me. I guess I’d been naive; my hopes had been so high. I wanted to help others grow more into their best selves, as my own personal therapy had helped me to do. I had always enjoyed the mental gymnastics required for successful therapy. But in the role of therapist, it just didn’t work. Most of the time I felt overwhelmed and ineffective. So I left the field of mental health care, and the rat race of being employed full-time. I now use my skills as a writer, graphic artist, editor, and communications consultant in a volunteer capacity for two non-profits in my community.

I’m a graduate of Penn State University, a dedicated yogi, and an avid NFL football fan. I’m passionate about criminal justice reform and finding ways to decrease gun violence in our country. I’m a card-carrying member of the ACLU, Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence, Moms Rising, and the local chapter of March for Our Lives. I’m a fierce defender of the rights of marginalized groups to have their voices heard. I find as I’ve gotten older, my tolerance for social injustice, pretense, and just general nonsense has diminished drastically.

At the end of the day, all I need is to visit with my sweet husband while Charlie sits on my lap. I love strong coffee in the morning and a crisply chilled Chardonnay at wine time in the evening. I’m a lover of all animals and most people. Every day, I strive to be more authentic.

Oh yes, and this whole novelist thing…

An end-of-semester assignment in a high school creative writing class: write a short story using all the skills of characterization, plot development, and pacing that had (hopefully) been mastered during previous weeks. Once my story was carefully crafted and finally turned in, I hoped for the best from a teacher who had always intimidated me. The final grade? An “A” along with an additional hand-written note: “Hold on to this story. You may want to do something more with it someday.”

Fueled largely by that teacher’s thrilling and unexpected words of encouragement, I would sometimes dream of turning that little story into a novel. However, life got in the way time after time, and the unfinished story would be returned to its shelf, often for months or even years of inactivity. But the characters never let go of me, the one person who could bring their story to light.

With the generous support of critique partners, a friend or two, and one very patient husband, that short story eventually became Shaman, a 322-page, award-winning novel by author Kelly Z. Conrad (that’s me!).

So many people who read Shaman told me, “You have to write a sequel!” But despite writing nearly 10K words of a sequel shortly after Shaman was published, that project, too, was put on a shelf to make way for a busy life.

Then in 2020, Covid-19 ravaged the world. In response to the stress and tragic uncertainty of a global killer for which there was no cure or even treatment for many months, I turned to my writing as an escape, a coping mechanism. It was such a therapeutic balm to be able to lose myself in the lives of my characters in the late 19th century during a time when it felt life-threatening just to walk out my front door.

After two years of extensive research, determination, and hard work, finally, The Passage, was born. I never thought I’d actually finish the sequel to Shaman. I still can’t believe I did it! I’m now working on a third book in the Shaman series, titled The Way Home. I haven’t yet written much, but I’ve been researching and doing a LOT of thinking... which is where it all starts. Stay tuned!