Cindy Skaggs started gambling because she needed a quick financial turnaround for an investment opportunity, and her father was right there to pony up the bankroll. She learned valuable lessons that night in betting, bluffing, and folding, until she'd turned a dollar in nickels into serious money: twelve dollars for a middle school yearbook.

Cindy grew up on stories of mob bosses, horse thieves, cold-blooded killers, and the last honest man. Most of those stories were even true. She has ten siblings, some of whom are older than her mother, has nieces and nephews older than her, and once went to a horse auction with John Wayne. Well, with him in the sense that he was there, and she was also... there. She was the skinny little kid in line for his autograph with tangled hair and bruised knees that liked to dance on her daddy's dusty cowboy boots and listen to his tall tales.

With her love of storytelling and heroes, it's no wonder she turned to books and stories after her father died. She skipped most of the eighth grade to bury herself in books while hidden in her closet, because she was still looking for the quick turnaround, the ultimate story, and the last honest man. Her search took her around the world with the Air Force as well as around the world with her education. She's visited more countries than she can remember, nearly every state in the U.S., and has more degrees than the Tin Man.

As a single mom, she's still gambling, betting on herself for the first time in her life, turning her lifelong love of storytelling into the one thing she can't live without: writing. She writes 10,000 words a week in cafes and coffee shops, and some of those are even worth reading. She has an MA in Creative Writing, is working towards her Master of Fine Arts, and has three jobs, two kids, a Pushcart Nomination, more pets than she can possibly handle, and more works in progress than the crew filling potholes after a long Colorado winter.

Facebook is her guilty pleasure (Cindy Skaggs, Writer), the Twitterverse her happy place (@CLSkaggs), and her blog the one place she's not telling stories (fictional, anyway). This time around, she's holding out for the last honest man. You can find her at www.CSkaggs.com to sign up for her newsletter.