Cheryl was born in Duncan, Oklahoma, and grew up in Seminole, Oklahoma. She graduated from the University of Oklahoma and holds a B.A. in English.
She has eight published novels, including three western historical romances: Fire Eyes, The Half-Breed's Woman, and Gabriel's Law, all available in print and digital format.
Three of Cheryl’s stories have been nominated in the Best Western Short Fiction category of the Western Fictioneers Peacemaker Awards. Her paranormal western short story "The Keepers of Camelot" was nominated in 2013. In 2014, her story "It Takes a Man," featuring her characters from the Wolf Creek series, was a finalist. And the most recent, “Hidden Trails,” set in Indian Territory, was nominated in 2016.
Her young adult western historical trilogy of novellas, Red Eagle's War, Red Eagle's Revenge, and Texas Forever are available through the Painted Pony Books imprint, and the first two of the series have spent much time on Kindle's top 100 list for westerns.
Cheryl also has contributed heavily to the western "shared world" collaborative effort known as Wolf Creek since it came into existence. Written under the pen name of "Ford Fargo," the series features six authors in each volume with stories built around the characters they've created. Anthologies of short stories round out this collaboration. Wolf Creek Book 6: Hell on the Prairie contains Cheryl's Peacemaker-nominated story, "It Takes a Man." Cheryl has also served as the President of Western Fictioneers, a professional organization for western authors.
Writing is so much a part of her life that she and long-time friend Livia Reasoner, opened Prairie Rose Publications. PRP now offers five other imprints: Painted Pony Books, Tornado Alley Publications, and Fire Star Press, Prayers and Promises, and Sundown Press.
Cheryl and her husband have lived in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for the past 32 years.