The Journey to Write
I'm homegrown - raised, braised, and cured in a charcuterie of the Deep South, with the wonderful nuances of family, friends, and our famously fractured characters.
One of only three girls in a host of boy cousins and two brothers, I learned to find my own way somewhere between Southern belle and tomboy. I was that kid at the top of the summer reading list challenge, tucked away in a secret fort, or obscure beach cottage loft on a rainy day, devouring a smorgasbord of goodies from biographies and Nancy Drew mysteries to C.S. Lewis and The Scarlet Letter. Books were - and still are - both the escape and the connection.
Life happens…
After I raised my girls, and was approaching my 60th birthday, I was stricken with a very rare form of paralysis, a "surfer's stroke".
My tennis, hiking, music-festival attending days came to an abrupt halt. My world temporarily imploded while I negotiated through the mess. The journey to walk again is ongoing, but possible, and I haven't given up! My book, In The Valley Of Achor, is a view of the first year of life in a wheelchair, and a very important part of my own spiritual journey as well. I'm still active, but in a much different way these days. Writing, a little jewelry making, learning to play the mountain dulcimer, and staying active in my church, have all become therapeutic, fun, and meaningful ways of seeking joy in my life.
An English teacher once told me she wanted an autographed copy of my first book.
Life kind of got in the way for a while, but I have discovered, again, how much I love writing, reading, and discovering all that is given to us in this life. I gravitate to historical fiction, and both of my first two fiction novels are of that genre.