She graduated from Penn State University and two years later followed her family to New Orleans. The long months of heat and humidity convinced her and her husband, Thom, to relocate to Alaska with their toddler, Kristen. "In our VW bug, we chose an extra-long route, first visiting the Pacific Northwest, then driving through British Columbia and the Yukon on the ALCAN highway." She tells how she swam every day until they crossed into Alaska. They headed to Nome, and six weeks later to the Inupiat village of Kivalina. They spent the school year above the arctic circle. They later resettled in Juneau where their son Cody was born.

After six years, they left for Berkeley and advanced degrees, then spent a year in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. They have since lived in Bloomington, Indiana.

Lynch has published hundreds of poems along with short stories and essays in literary magazines and anthologies. This year MediaJazz published her first collection of haibun, Meteor Hound. Haibun is a hybrid form of prose and haiku. In 2008, Finishing Line Press published her poetry chapbook Praising Invisible Birds. She has won many awards, including fellowships from the Alaska Council on the Arts, the Indiana Arts Council, and the Chester H. Jones Foundation. Her haibun awards include three from the Genjuan International Haibun contest and three from the Haiku Society of America.

Lynch has worked as a librarian, college professor, book reviewer, social worker for the blind, cab driver, waitress and deli-girl. She loves to swim, hike, and travel. She states, "I feel strongly that we must work hard to save our climate, and the natural world that sustains us and all our fellow creatures."