My family moved often in my growing-up years--from Canton, Ohio, where I was born, to Alabama, Tennessee, Delaware, and finally to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I graduated from high school. I earned a B.A. degree in English and an M.A. in Education with a special emphasis in theater from the University of Kentucky, but a higher education (and a first-runner-up to Miss Kentucky trophey) hasn’t stopped me from doing whatever it takes to put food on the table including cleaning houses; writing and editing for newspapers and magazines, and holding job titles such as veterinary technologist; vocal coach; legal secretary; English teacher; singer/musician with showbands on the road for almost 8 years, and a single act on the road for another 3 years; music director in new-thought churches; keyboard/vocalist at piano bars and private events; corporate technical writer; online English teacher for a well-known private-corporation university; and editor for other life story writers throughout many years!
I continue to coach voice students; read books; think; write, record my own music; and perform everybody else's music. I've facilitated life writers’ groups and helped many of them get published. For relaxation, I create cartoons few have ever seen.
I've been a prolific writer throughout the years, and at this late age of life, my primary goal is to release the rest of my letters and journals.
The audiobook of my first-published book, Life with a Buckskinner, is almost ready for release. Marketing what has already been released while staying focused enough to finish the rest of my projects sometimes makes me feel like I'm crawling up a hill leading to nowhere.
The experience of writing a novel has long been on my list. I began writing Shadowbox a few months ago. What a journey to watch my characters come to life and run their own course! Although each of the characters is either a part of me and my life experiences, or a composite of people I've known through my life, they've all entered a completely different situation. The course they're taking and how they want to think and behave constantly surprises me.
At this time in my life, my hard work has finally become something I love to do!
I've been a prolific writer throughout the years, and at this late age of life, my primary goal is to release the rest of my letters and journals.
The audiobook of my first-published book, Life with a Buckskinner, is almost ready for release. Marketing what has already been released while staying focused enough to finish the rest of my projects sometimes makes me feel like I'm crawling up a hill leading to nowhere.
The experience of writing a novel has long been on my list. I began writing Shadowbox a few months ago. What a journey to watch my characters come to life and run their own course! Although each of the characters is either a part of me and my life experiences, or a composite of people I've known through my life, they've all entered a completely different situation. The course they're taking and how they want to think and behave constantly surprises me.
At this time in my life, my hard work has finally become something I love to do!
