Bio

I am a writer and professor, and I love young adult literature (YAL) — reading it, teaching it, and writing it.  My experiences as a high school English teacher and mom to three amazing humans, who made it through their own adolescence better than I did, have led me to believe life’s most important questions are asked by adolescents.   

My life as a writer began when I was a kid and kept a diary (with a lock to keep my brothers out) and created homemade birthday cards for my family.  Some of these cards with their cheesy, but heartfelt messages written in a rainbow of colored pencils can still be found somewhere in the bottom of my mom’s cedar chest. 

As an English major at Butler University, I took all the creative writing classes offered.  Back then, I wrote mediocre poetry and short stories, all of which were more sentimental than literary.  Since then, I moved on to academic writing, and now I’m pursuing my lifelong dream of writing fiction about and for teens.

After teaching English at Lafayette Jefferson H.S. for four years in the early 1990s, I earned a Ph.D. in English Education from Purdue University.  Since 2002, I have been known as Dr. Pittard, Associate Professor of Education at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, IN. 

Two quick fun facts: 1) Wabash (the college, not the town in northern Indiana) is a small (less than 1000 students) liberal arts college for men, one of only three left in the country; and 2) In 2017, I won Wabash’s most prestigious teaching award.  I’m still honored and humbled by the recognition!

Although academic writing has been my thing for the last several years, it’s YA novels that are rekindling the creative fires in me now.  Recently, I’m also working on a memoir.

A few more fun facts:  I have lived within a 50-mile radius of my small hometown of Rockville, IN my entire life. Growing up on a farm in Parke County, home of the Covered Bridge Festival, I was a proud 10-year 4-H member, third in my class of a whopping 45 students at Montezuma High School, and I once drove in a demolition derby with my cousin as my co-pilot.  Trust me when I say, “driving” a car in a demolition derby is harder and a lot scarier than driving a real car.

My husband, Jeff, and I met at Butler University. We have been married for 30+ years and counting.  We raised three kids (two daughters with a son in the middle) in Lafayette, IN, and now we live in Carmel, IN. In the last 5 years, we’ve welcomed a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law, and two grandsons to our growing family.