Nelson grew up in Salina, Kansas. She was editor of the Tripodium newspaper at Salina High School South and won a national award for excellence in feature writing in 1991. She studied at the University of Kansas, where she was editor of "The University Daily Kansan". She was a reporter for "The Wichita Eagle" and "Fort Worth Star-Telegram". She was columnist for "The Dallas Morning News". She was the White House reporter for "The Wall Street Journal".