Walton has been writing since she was 13. Her first novel was published in 2000. Before that, she had been published in a number of role-playing game publications, such as "Pyramid". She often wrote with her husband at the time, Ken Walton. Walton was also active in online science fiction fandom, especially in the Usenet groups "rec.arts.sf.written" and "rec.arts.sf.fandom". Her poem "The Lurkers Support Me in E-Mail" is widely quoted on it and in other online arguments, often without her name attached.