Shannon was born in Boston, MA but grew up in Somers, New York. She attended the State University of New York College at Potsdam, graduating with a BA in English Writing and Sociology. She mainly uses these locations as the settings of her novels, although UNDER GOD'S BIG SKY is set in Montana.

Shannon knew she wanted to be a writer at a very young age. By the age of six she was writing and illustrating stories in her spiral notebooks (to the glee of her older sister and her friends).

At the age of eight she enjoyed a brief interlude of local notoriety when she won the Best Fairytale of the Year at Primrose Elementary for THE POISON TULIP, which she had written and illustrated herself. The story was published in THE NORTH COUNTY NEWS and for a short period of time she enjoyed a taste of fame.

Shannon has wanted to be an author all her life and the ability to publish and share her novels has been the culmination of a lifelong dream.