Weight of Blood (McHugh)

Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1974-75
• Where—Iowa, USA
• Raised—Tecumseh, Missouri
• Education—B.A., Truman State University; B.A., M.S.,
   University of Missouri-Columbia
• Currently—lives in Columbia, Missouri


Laura McHugh was born in Iowa and moved at the age of seven to Tecumseh, Missouri, in the Ozarks. As a child, she loved writing stories and dreamed of becoming a writer. But after graduating from Truman State University in 1996 with a degree in English with an emphasis on creative writing, she realized she needed more stable work than writing would provide.

Laura returned to school, this time earning a Master's in Information Science and Learning Technologies. A year later, she earned a second Bachelor's in Computer Science. She worked as a software developed until she was laid off in 2009 during the economic recession.

By then Laura was the mother of two school-aged girls. With encouragement from her husband, she decided to begin writing again, working each day after she dropped the girls off at school and at night after they went to bed.

Laura lives with her family in Columbia, Missouri. The Weight of Blood is her first novel. (Adapted from Jefferson City News Tribune.)