Mandy Houk's early childhood was happily spent in her birthplace of Atlanta, Georgia, where aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents all lived nearby.  She did the rest of her growing up in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and California.  In the summer of 2006, she and her family settled in the Front Range region of the Colorado Rockies. 

Mandy fell in love with writing before she entered kindergarten, thanks to a spectacular mom who taught her to read early.  Mandy's first attempts included silly poems, songs, and stories, most of which concluded with a wedding (including the first story that she had bound as a book, which was exclusively populated with talking chipmunks).

Through elementary school, middle school, high school, and college, Mandy kept writing poems, songs, and stories, but they weren't always silly. At least not intentionally. She took some time off from writing when she entered the work world (illogically taking a job as an accounts payable manager, where she was infinitely grateful for calculators). 

In 1992, Mandy became Fabulous Peter's wife, and by 1998, they'd completed their family with two lovely daughters. All the reading and storytelling that comes with being a Mommy rekindled Mandy's first love, and she enthusiastically returned to writing. 

Mandy had her first taste of success when she placed as a top ten finalist in an international short story competition in 2004; this led her to try her hand at writing a novel.  She has since placed in other short story contests, and has sold several articles and personal stories to nonfiction publications.

In November of 2008, Mandy was invited to sit on the Board of Directors of Pikes Peak Writers and to serve as the Editor of the PPW NewsMag.  Members can download complete issues online, and nonmembers can view excerpts through the PPW Website.    

When she's not writing, Mandy teaches Creative Writing at the University School of Colorado Springs

 and serves as the faculty advisor for Partum Stylus, the school's literary journal.  Or she's reading, baking, cooking, knitting, or joining her family for church-going, puzzle-making, board game-playing, and laughing.

For Mandy's detailed publication history, please click here.

For information on Mandy's editing and ghostwriting services, as well as a list of topics she has used for speaking engagements, click here.