Growing up in north St. Louis county, Diane E. Tatum began writing stories in elementary school. Her first book Gold Earrings began as a short story written for her high school English class. She holds a BS in Business Administration in Accounting and a MA in Teaching Language Arts. She taught middle school language arts for 11 years to put their two sons through college. Then her husband Ken encouraged her to “come home and write your stories.” Book count so far is 20!