Donna Ketelboeter Gorrell grew up in Midlothian Illinois and has also lived in New Douglas, Emden, and Normal Illinois; Columbus and Toledo Ohio; Milwaukee Wisconsin; and Saint Cloud Minnesota. She has taught writing and rhetoric at Illinois State University, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Saint Cloud State University. Writing credits include several college textbooks: Copy/Write, Bridges: Readings for Writers, The Purposeful Writer, The Little, Brown Workbook, A Writer's Handbook from A to Z, and Style and Difference: A Guide for Writers. In retirement, she continues to teach and write. She lives in Saint Cloud with her husband, Kenneth Gorrell.