Also Present… is the first full-length book by Nancy Fitzgerald, and was five years in the making. Fitzgerald is retired from teaching at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and a practice in mediation in Warrenton, Virginia. Since that time she has written Out of Bounds, a monthly column, for the Smith Mountain Eagle. She has also published articles in Middleburg Life and The Tiller, as well as a small travel journal. Fitzgerald lives in Virginia with her husband.