Kirby Lindsay Laney has been crafting stories since infancy. Her imaginary friends had complex back stories and lived transformational lives of intrigue and romance. At age 12, she decided to become a writer when she found her dream of playing piano in a smoke-filled bar thwarted by her inability to play. With the invention of the laptop computer, Kirby became that person at the campsite, the tour bus, and the cruise ship, seated in the shady spot with the best view. Hunched over the keyboard, she pounded out the stories of people she met for her non-fiction columns.
A former bookstore owner, Kirby still prefers to crawl into fiction whenever she can, even after she finally learned to play the piano. She is grateful to Adrian, her husband, who keeps her fed and occasionally turned towards the sun during her most intense periods of writing. She also credits her grandparents, and mother, who influenced her distinctive storytelling style with their tellings, and re-tellings, of family stories.
'A Friend of Michelle' gives life to Kirby’s colorful, fictional characters, based on people she might’ve met, had they existed at all. Travel still preoccupies Kirby’s adult aspirations, and for her first novel, she chose the oft-visited, always inspiring island of O’ahu. Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, she has lived in Toledo, Ohio; Fredericksburg, Virgina; and Colima, Mexico. Kirby now resides in the bustling community of Chamberlain, South Dakota, in the center of the nation, and on the shores of the Missouri River - where no one ever asks her to surf.