Lauren Sweet’s love of the written word began with Go, Dog, Go and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, and with a Little Golden Book about a goat that gets a bucket stuck on its head.  Consumed with envy because her older sister could read the goat book all by herself, Lauren learned to read at the age of three and a half.  She spent a large portion of her formative years with a book in her hand or under the desk in math class. 

Love of reading turned naturally to love of writing.  After a short and unsuccessful attempt to write romance novels in the 1980s, Lauren put writing on the back burner until her mid-life crisis. Unable to afford a red sports car or a trophy husband, she instead abandoned a 20-year career in business administration and journeyed from her native New Jersey to Anchorage, Alaska, stalking the wilds of academia for a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.  She graduated in 2008 and moved to Portland in search of a larger writing community and the opportunity to drive to other states without traversing Canada.

Lauren has worked as a freelance editor for the Tunnel Vision Writers’ Project in New Jersey, and served as Program Coordinator and critique session moderator for the Somerset Hills Writers’ Salon.  She loves mystery novels and is an unabashed sci-fi/fantasy geek with a special interest in mythic fiction: fiction which is inspired by, or uses elements of myth and folklore.  Other esoteric skills include astrology, tarot card reading, figure skating, and the ability to do a perfect split.