Nicole R. Zimmerman has traveled solo to seven countries, including South Korea, New Zealand and Brazil.  Her essays have been published in the Los Angeles Times and in The Best Women's Travel Writing 2009. She  attends the MFA in Writing program at the University of San Francisco and lives with her partner on an 80-acre sheep farm in Penngrove. Nicole blogs on the writing life at http://paper-pencil-pen.blogspot.com/.