About Me

I was born and raised in a suburb of Grand Rapids, Michigan, to the unlikely pairing of a woodworking master craftsman and a nurse. I am the middle child of three girls and I was always the elaborate storyteller, plot designer and scene setter for our doll playing sessions growing up. My overactive imagination was already bulging with the weight of creativity.

In time, the dolls were exchanged for books and I soon found that I loved writing fiction easily as much as I enjoyed reading it. After graduating from Michigan State, majoring in literature, I became a kindergarten teacher. But, back in Grand Rapids, while I tried to decide what to do with the rest of my life I met the love of my life.

We relocated to Chicago and had two children of our own, Max and Elli. Since I was lucky enough to be able to stay at home and raise my kids, I took stolen moments between chores, driving to soccer practice and dance, and meal prep to return to writing.

I quickly found a passion for the Romance genre, but only wrote for myself until the other members of my small literary circle insisted I take it more seriously. With extraordinary amounts of coffee, along with my friends helping to edit and polish my work, I published my first novella in 2014 and have since added numerous short stories and full-length novels to my back catalog.

Aside from writing, I try to spend as much time with my family as possible. We love to travel, and frequently exchange the chilly Illinois winters for the much warmer climate of the Caribbean, where I reserve time to myself to lounge by the ocean and devour as many books as possible--mostly romance novels, but mysteries too.

Contact

ShelbyDurgan@gmail.com