Mary T. Wagner is a former newspaper and magazine journalist who changed careers at forty by going to law school and becoming a criminal prosecutor. However, she never could step away from the written word entirely, and inevitably the joy of writing drew her back to the keyboard.

A Chicago native, this mother of four and recent new grandmother now lives in "coastal Wisconsin," where she draws much inspiration for writing from frequent trips to the shore of Lake Michigan, watching the waves ebb and flow and make shifting mosaics of sunlight on the sandy lake floor. Wagner's ongoing legal experience has ranged from handling speeding tickets to arguing and winning several cases before the Wisconsin Supreme Court...sometimes in the same week!
 
Her first three essay collections--Running with Stilettos, Heck on Heels, andFabulous in Flats--have garnered numerous national and regional awards, including a Gold E-Lit Book Award, an Indie Excellence Award, and "Published Book of the Year" by the Florida Writers Association. When the Shoe Fits...Essays of Love, Life and Second Chances rounds up her favorites--and reader favorites--into a "best of" collection now available on Amazon in paperback and ebook formats. 

She has now entered the realm of writing for children with her award-winning Finnigan the Circus Cat chapter book series for young readers aged 7-10. The series revolves around a "rescue kitten" who finds a home in a small-town circus museum, and the two "circus mice" cousins who are his closet companions. Wagner is not only writing the series, but illustrating it as well. The second volume, Finnigan and the Lost Circus Wagon, is scheduled for publication November 1, 2017. 

Wagner's life experiences includes the defining watershed of motherhood, and stints as a girl scout troop leader, truck stop waitress, office temp, judicial clerk, and radio talk show host. She counts both wearing spike heels and learning to use a cordless drill and chainsaw among her "late blooming" discoveries, and would be hard pressed to surrender either her favorite stilettos or her power tools.