Join My Journey
I am a poet and author of four children’s books, a memoir, two books of poetry, an anthology, and a travel memoir. Writing is like breathing for me – necessary for survival. It’s the first thing I want to do in the morning and the last thing I want to do at night. It is also a form of therapy – a way of celebrating or lamen
Join My Journey
I am a poet and author of four children’s books, a memoir, two books of poetry, an anthology, and a travel memoir. Writing is like breathing for me – necessary for survival. It’s the first thing I want to do in the morning and the last thing I want to do at night. It is also a form of therapy – a way of celebrating or lamenting life’s ups and downs.
I grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, a coal miner’s daughter. When I first started writing, I didn’t think my life there was interesting enough to write about. Who would care about life in a small coal mining town? Eventually, those early experiences became part of a memoir, Daughter of the Mountains. I learned that a lot of people cared enough to buy the book and share with me their own stories of small town lives.
I started writing for publication in my twenties. One of my early children’s stories sold to a magazine with a feature called, My Father is… I wrote about my Dad working in the coal mines. My first job at age twenty was a secretarial one for the executive assistant to the Governor of West Virginia. My boss was a bachelor and his antics became funny short stories in secretarial magazines. Interesting side note…they were published in shorthand and then “translated” in the back of the book. When I got married and became a stay-at-home mom, I became an expert crafter between household chores and reading Dr. Suess books to my children Steven and Shannon. I published articles about those projects in crafting magazines.
Looking back, most of my magazine articles, children’s stories, books, and poetry came from my life experiences – the good, the bad and the ugly.
My Community
One of my goals as a writer is to encourage everyone to write their stories. Your life story is a part of history that should be preserved for your children, grandchildren and generations to come. When my children were grown, I took up my crafting tools again and created a scrapbook about my life. That scrapbook became the bas
My Community
One of my goals as a writer is to encourage everyone to write their stories. Your life story is a part of history that should be preserved for your children, grandchildren and generations to come. When my children were grown, I took up my crafting tools again and created a scrapbook about my life. That scrapbook became the basis for my memoir, Daughter of the Mountains. I also kept journals for each of my children about their growing-up years. When they graduated from high school, I presented them with scrapbooks overflowing with pictures, stories, even some of their own artwork. Those scrapbooks are cherished historical keepsakes that they can share with their own children.
I also participate in a couple of writing groups – one poetry and one prose – that encourage and mentor the writer over fifty. I believe the wisdom gained from lives-well-lived should be out there for the generations coming up behind us. Many of my poems address the humorous side of aging in this very technological world. I would love to hear your stories, read your poems and I will always respect your privacy.
My Work
My writing career co-exists with my 40-year career as a Senior Sales Director with Mary Kay Cosmetics. As a single parent with no child support, I needed a job I could do at home while raising my children. Mary Kay filled the bill beautifully, allowing me to support my family while teaching and mentoring other women to become ind
My Work
My writing career co-exists with my 40-year career as a Senior Sales Director with Mary Kay Cosmetics. As a single parent with no child support, I needed a job I could do at home while raising my children. Mary Kay filled the bill beautifully, allowing me to support my family while teaching and mentoring other women to become independent and successful.
I poured my single parenting joys and frustrations into journals that became poetry books,Tapestry; Walk With Me; and an anthology, Captured Moments. Children’s stories became picture books, Revolt of the Teacups; Herman the Hermit Crab and the Mystery of the Big, Black, Shiny Thing, which I dedicated to my three grandchildren; Buddy the Bookworm Rescues the Doomed Books; and Buddy and Ballerina Save the Library, illustrated by my grand-daughters, Adaline and Emma, who were in fifth grade and second grade at the time. Imagine how much fun it was for our whole family to watch the girls autograph books for our friends.
I met my soul mate and re-married in middle age. Don and I gypsied around the U. S., Canada, and British Columbia for twenty years. He was a photographer so we collaborated on travel stories. My travel memoir, Road Trip chronicles those adventures.
I have been honored to have my work published in many anthologies and prestigious magazines like The Pen Woman, the publication of the National League of American Pen Women, alongside the work of such icons as Maya Angelou. I have been recognized with awards from many writing organizations, including – Poetry Society of Virginia, Chesapeake Bay Writers, Christopher Newport University’s Writer’s Conference, Gulf Coast Writers Association. Recently, one of my poems was selected by the Art Lit Project to be displayed on the sidewalks of my town, Williamsburg, VA. But the honor I value the most, was a comment from a reader who said, “Your writing is soul food for the heart.” Mission accomplished!
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