[2] Pickart was one of three daughters of Robert G. Elliott, an Episcopal pastor in Detroit, Michigan and Douglas, Arizona.
[4] In 1982, she was employed as a secretary at Amphitheater High School, Tucson, Arizona, when she began writing romance novels after taking a course at Pima Community College.
Her first published novel, Breaking All the Rules, was bought by Bantam Books in winter 1983-84 for their Loveswept range, and appeared in summer 1984.
[5] By late 1985, a reviewer wrote that Pickart was "fast becoming one of Loveswept's most consistent and popular authors [who] brings an extra dimension of humanity to the characters she creates ... [In Midnight Ryder she] employs humor and honest emotion to keep readers involved.
"[6] In Waiting for Prince Charming, she used "many original touches [in] a modern rendering of an old fairy tale".