Ellen Henderson was born in Irving, Texas, and lived there until she met the love of her life at age 18, at which point she promptly left town. But heading to college in Austin (sorry, Longhorns, it was St. Edward's University, not the University of Texas) didn't bust up a good thing, and eight years and two moves later, she and Mr. Love-of-Her-Life got hitched. That was 1999, and they're still a happy couple.

Which might explain why she has a tendency to write stories with romantic themes – they always say to write what you know. As for writing in general, she doesn't remember a time when she wasn't doing it. A degree in English Lit from the aforementioned St. Ed's (Go Hilltoppers! What's a Hilltopper, you ask? Why, it's a goat. We think.) only furthered her love of the written word, and it was during those college years that she first tried her hand at novel-writing. The less said about that first effort, the better, but it got her on the path.

For the next few years, Ellen made a living as an administrative assistant, a proofreader, a freelance writer and copy editor, and an online editor at The Dallas Morning News. And through it all she was still writing novels, slowly and in fits and starts, but gradually learning the craft.

In 2002, she wandered in to an online message group about the most excellent Jennifer Crusie, which eventually morphed into a most excellent writing craft workshop. The Cherries, as those fine folks are called, moved her writing forward by great leaps and bounds, and she sucked in knowledge like a sponge over the next two years while writing what would become her first published book, ULTRA VIOLET.

In early 2005, after an exhaustive rewrite and an agonizing wait, Ellen was thrilled to get The Call that most every writer longs for – the one in which an editor says she wants to buy the book. That experience remains a high point of her life, and one Ellen will always remember, not least because she (of course) wrote down all the details as soon as she was coherent enough to do so.

When she's not writing, Ellen enjoys reading what other people have written, watching far too much television, wasting time on the Internet, petting her two cats, and chatting with Mr. Love-of-Her-Life. When she's feeling energetic, she likes scuba diving, travel, and Iyengar yoga. She has also dabbled in Krav Maga, a self-defense and fighting program.