Welcome!
As a young girl, I spent most of my summer afternoons lying in a hammock and reading. Nancy Drew's novels as well as Marguerite Henry’s
Chincoteague
Pony series were my favorites. I was enamored
with story, whether reading books or sitting around my grandmother’s
kitchen table listening to my great aunts tell tales of their
lives.
That fascination did not dissolve as I entered my teens. When I began high school, I told my guidance counselor that I wanted to be a writer. He flatly told me that I’d never be a writer and subsequently designed a business track for me, so that I would be properly trained as a secretary or bookkeeper. It was the most I could hope for, according to him. A decade or so later, I proved him wrong, and I began my writing career by writing personality profiles of artists, writers, and musicians within my community for a local culture and arts tabloid. Eventually, I penned my own stories in the form of essays, memoirs, and novels. As time passed, other writers enlisted my services to hone their works, and I also became an editor for a number of publishing houses.
In the process of writing and coaching others in the art and craft of writing, I began to understand the power of the story or narrative. My counselor's view of me was based on a prevailing master narrative–– story––about women's role in society. In time I realized that by writing our own stories, wounds from our past could be healed and the life that best fit our own hopes and dreams could be created. Further, by reading stories written by others, we often engage with the story in such a way that we heal and dream of a better future along with the story's narrator.
My writing––and my services to other writers––honors the power of story to influence our lives. May you be blessed with endless hours of creativity and connection with your muse!
