Celia Hayes earned a degree in English Literature (California State University Northridge, 1976) before an un-slaked thirst for adventure and foreign travel led her to enlist in the United States Air Force. She trained as a radio and television broadcast technician, and served for 20 years in places as various as Greece, Spain, Japan, Korea, Greenland and Ogden, Utah, in a wide assortment of duties and pleasures which included midnight alt-rock DJ, TV news anchor, video-production librarian, radio and television writer and producer, production manager, base tour guide, and on one colorful occasion driving a bright orange Volvo sedan across Western Europe from Athens to Zaragoza, Spain, accompanied only by a small and cranky child. 

In 2002, she became a regular contributor to the military-oriented weblog, “Sgt. Stryker’s Daily Brief” (now “The Daily Brief”) writing essays and commentary on matters historical, personal, political, cultural, literary and military under the "nom du blog" of "Sgt. Mom". She took over as senior editor/manager of the popular site in 2004. She is also a member of

PJ Media, a conglomerate of other social and political weblogs, and of the “Milblogs Ring”, a similar association of military and veteran weblog writers and producers.  She is also a founding member of the Independent Authors Guild, and serves as their website manager.

She worked as an office administrator and manager, catalog editor, executive secretary and classical music announcer, before deciding that writing full-time was what she really, really wanted to be doing.