Patricia Windsor was born in the Bronx, New York, on September 21, 1938, and began writing at about age ten, accumulating no fewer than thirtyfive rejection slips from Seventeen magazine by the time she graduated from high school. Abandoning the idea of writing as a career, she studied modern dance at Bennington College and at Westchester Community College (her associate's degree is from New York University), only to have her writing skills land her post-college employment as an editor and copywriter—including a stint on the staff of Mademoiselle magazine and as a senior editor at Harper and Row. In the early 1970s, she worked in London, England, as a counselor at a family planning association and at the National Council of Social Services, bringing her into direct contact with the special challenges commonly faced by the young.

More recently, she has taught creative writing...