Cathie Linz was born on November 29. Her interest in writing began at an early age, when her older brother got a Tom Thumb typewriter. Only three at the time, she loved pounding on those keys! When she reached the third grade, Cathie received Second Prize award for her Class Knowledge Fair project. It was a "book" - three pages long, typed, single-space, about her summer spent with her grandfather who'd retired to Ajijic, on the shores of Lake Chapala, in Mexico.

Knowing that writing was not a financially secure career choice, Cathie went to college and got a job as Head of Acquisitions at a university law library in the Chicago area. She married with Mr. Baumgardner. When she had to have emergency surgery, she realized that life isn't open-ended and if she wanted to write, she needed to start now. While still living at home, she gave herself a year to be published.

Her first publisher, Dell, called within two weeks of the approaching deadline to buy her first book. After writing 12 books for Dell's successful Candlelight Ecstasy line, Cathie began writing for Silhouette Desire. Since then, she's also written for Silhouette Romance and Harlequin Duets. Romantic Times has given Cathie its prestigious Storyteller of the Year Award as well as a Reviewers Choice Award. She's also been nominated for multiple Love and Laughter Awards and Best Series Author.In addition, Romance Writers of America recently made Cathie a lifetime honorary member.

Cathie is also a contributor to DANGEROUS MEN AND ADVENTUROUS WOMEN: Romance Writers on the Appeal of the Romance, a hardcover lead title from the University of Pennsylvania Press which won the distinguished Susan Koppleman Award. The mass market paperback edition was released by Harper Publishing in June of 1996.

Cathie lives in the Chicago area with her family and two cats. She lives near fellow Silhouette authors Lindsay Longford and Suzette Vann, as well as New York Times bestselling author Susan Elizabeth Phillips. This rowdy foursome often hangs out at "Chile's" plotting their next masterpiece. Cathie is the one eating the steak fajitas. She has an office in her home, several walls of which feature her large collection of "keeper" romances. She's been known to wear t-shirts that say "So Many Books, So Little Time" and "Give me the Chocolate and No One Gets Hurt!" She writes her books in her home office suite, looking out on a small creek and woods. In the winter, sometimes a deer or two will walk by. She loves the Alps, as you can tell from the photo on this webpage. Her hobbies include reading (she has over 4,000 romances in her keeper library), travelling (she sets books in places she's visited — from the Alps to Bermuda, and Oregon to New Hampshire), and collecting artist teddy bears (she got hooked on this unusual hobby after researching for a book where the heroine designed teddy bears. Cathie now has over 50 one-of a kind bears in her collection). She is also an accomplished photographer.