Biography

Deborah J Ledford is a three-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize.  Her award-winning short stories appear in the print publications Arizona Literary Magazine, Forge Journal literary magazine, Twisted Dreams Magazine, AnthologyBuilder.  A flash fiction piece is presented via podcast at Sniplits.  Stories also appear two mystery anthologies "Medley of Murder" and "Map of Murder" published by Red Coyote Press, the Gulf Coast Writers Association anthology “Sweet Tea and Afternoon Tales” and "How NOT to Survive the Holidays," published by the Desert Sleuths chapter of Sisters in Crime.

Deborah began her writing career as a screenwriter.  She wrote, directed and edited her first short film, "Blind Ambitions," as an entry into Scottsdale, Arizona's first international film festival.  "Blind Ambitions" won Third Place in that competition, as well as Honorable Mention in the Tucson International Film Festival.  From there, she wrote the full-length version of the same script as well as six other original full-length screenplays.

In a quest to produce her screenplays, Deborah launched her own independent film production company IOF Productions Ltd .  In the '90s, she assisted other independent film production companies (in a co-production capacity) composing investment prospectus packages, choosing scripts, scouting shooting locations, compiling and structuring budgets/day-out-of-day lists/character and scene breakdowns in order to present fully fundable projects for investors.

Before her career as a writer, Deborah worked for a decade as a professional scenic artist on motion pictures, industrial films, national commercials and live theatre.  Due to her work on industrial films for clients such as Intel and Motorola, Deborah earned security clearance through the United States Government.  She is most proud of her paint work on the Coen brothers' acclaimed motion picture Raising Arizona.

Trade Associations

Mystery Writers of America (SoCal), Sisters in Crime (National), Desert Sleuths (AZ), Moderator of the Scottsdale Arizona Writers Critique Group.