Debra Lauman

Born and raised in Rhode Island, Debra Lauman is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, with a Bachelors in Environmental Conservation. She received a post-graduate paralegal degree from Florida Atlantic University and worked in that field until 1995, when the office walls closed in and squeezed her back to the great outdoors and the world of creative writing.

An avid backpacker, Debra often comes up with the ideas for her stories while trekking. Much of her first novel, "I. Joseph Kellerman," published by Gardenia Press in 2003, was written during a 2,200-mile thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. During those same six months of walking up and down more than 400 named peaks, Debra kept a daily journal, which was posted on-line and read by tens of thousands of armchair adventurers and avid backpackers alike.

Readers continued to follow along with Debra's outdoor adventures as she backpacked in the Wind River Range, during which time the idea for her second novel, "A Picket Fence in Pawpaw," was conceived. As Debra often says, walking a trail frees her mind to wander to wild, wonderful and sometimes wacky places.

Debra’s additional writing credits include a second-place prize in Arizona’s Literary Contest, essay division, open to entrants nationwide. Her award-winning essay entitled "Screamer" was published in the Fall 2003 Arizona Literary Magazine. Debra was also a contributing writer to Sasquatch Books’ "Guide to Southern California."

Debra has written more than 200 online articles and is the author of two Search & Rescue blogs. She's currently working on her first non-fiction book, based on her three-months of travel and some unexpected adventure in Nepal.