: About Me

I started on my journey in this life on January 30, 1956, in the small coal-mining town of Brownsville, Pennsylvania. Two nights before I was born, my mother went sled riding, which may have accounted for my arrival two-months ahead of schedule. However, I believe that the heavens planned for me to be born under the independent, eccentric sign of Aquarius in order to endure the many trials life had in store for me.

I spent my early years as a Pennsylvania girl happily surrounded by an adoring family of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins until the early nineteen sixties when I moved with my parents to Cleveland, Ohio. Feeling isolated and missing my extended family and friends, I took solace within the walls of the children's room of the local library and formed lifelong friendships with books and writing. These "friends" stayed with me through numerous family illnesses, hardships and relocations throughout the Cleveland school system where I kept busy as a school library volunteer and high school newspaper reporter.

Soon after graduating from high school I married and focused on raising a family.  It was only after realizing that both of my daughters had inherited my love of writing and were serious about making it as writers that I decided to pursue my dream of freelance writing. I followed in my two oldest daughter's footsteps and became a college student at the age of forty-two, taking as many English and writing classes as the school allowed.

I earned my Associate of Arts Degree in English from Cuyahoga Community College in 2003 and then went on to earn a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business/Communications through University of Phoenix online classrooms. Writing credits include placing as a finalist in the Blue Mountain Art's 2003 Online Poetry Contest, 2nd and 3rd place for both fiction and poetry at the 2004 Skyline Writer's Conference, Skyline Newsletter Editor, and most recently as a Memoir Writing Facilitator at the January 2009 Artist's Way Retreat in North Olmsted, Ohio.

I live in Parma Heights, Ohio, with my husband, Leonard, and an extremely vocal feline named Zoe. When not writing, I enjoy gardening, crocheting, baking, and spending time with my children and grandbabies, Benjamin,  Riley, and twins Connor and Chloe.

My passion is ...

Writing, my grandchildren.

I know too much about ...

Loss

My parents always told me ...

Get the math! Get the math! I kept telling them that there was no poetry in math but they never understood.

My childhood ambition ...

To be a Writer

My favorite memory ...

Time spent by the ocean

Why I write ...

Because writing completes me.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

Listening: Across the Universe Soundtrack, Bon Jovi, Enya. Watching: Across the Universe, Gray's Anatomy, Ghost Whispers. Reading: Waiting for Alice Hoffman's "The Third Angel" to come out next week!

My first job ...

Babysitter for the little girl next door.

My best moment ...

When I received the email that I had placed in the Blue Mountain Poetry Contest, and when I received 2nd and 3rd place Honors in a regional contest.

My inspiration ...

Miss Morgan, my 7th grade English teacher, my daughters, Alice Hoffman and Elizabeth Berg

Creative Writing > Reflections Reflections: Death of a loved one

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"Mom, do you think they play baseball in heaven?" I was in the kitchen stirring macaroni into a pot of boiling water when my ten-year old son burst through the back door and asked me this question, his chocolate brown eyes illuminated with such seriousness that it brought tears to my eyes. I tossed the wooden spoon into the sink and cupped his sweaty face between my hands. "Of course they play baseball in heaven," I answered. "Every time you hear a crack of lightning, that's the sound of the bat smacking the baseball. The thunder is the roar of the crowd cheering when an angel hits a home ...

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