Florence Scovel was born in Camden, New Jersey, the daughter of Alden Cortlandt Scovel and Emily Hopkinson Scovel. Her great, great, grandfather,Francis Hopkinson, signed the Declaration of Independence and is the earliest documented American composer of song. She was educated in Philadelphia where she attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and there met her future husband, the artist Everett Shinn. After marriage they moved into a studio apartment at 112 Waverly Place, near Washington Square, New York. Everett built a theatre next door, and wrote three plays in which Florence played a leading role. They spent their summers in Plainfield (Cornish Art Colony), New Hampshire in a Colonial-style house designed by her husband. Florence and Everett divorced in 1912.
Florence worked as an illustrator in the early 1900s. She illustrated fiction in Harper's and other magazines, as well as popular novels such as Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1901). The Society of Illustrators elected her to an Associate Membership in 1903, even though it did not admit women to full membership in the organization until 1922.
Her metaphysical works began with her self-published The Game of Life and How to Play it in 1925. Your Word is Your Wand was published in 1928 and The Secret Door to Success in 1940. After her death another two works were published, The Power Of The Spoken Word in 1945.
The Game of Life and How to Play it includes quotes from the Bible and anecdotal explanations of the author's understanding of God and man. Her philosophy centers on the power of positive thought and usually includes instructions for verbal or physical affirmation.

The Game of Life and How to Play It
Your Word is Your Wand
The Secret Door to Success
The Power of the Spoken Word
The Magic Path of Intuition