: About Me

I love words! I love reading them and writing them, and I've loved them for as long as I can remember. I wrote my first poetry when I was six, and have enjoyed writing ever since.

My work experience includes education (English, art and journalism teacher,) business (I've been a partner in two businesses,) public relations (lots of pro bono work for non-profits,) and publishing (I've co-authored 4 non-fiction books on the use of color in interior design and have authored 2 on my own.)

I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree from Albion College with majors in art and English; a Master of Arts in Teaching from Calvin College (with some credits from the University of Michigan,) and 16 hours of post graduate work in newspaper journalism from Michigan State University. I also hold a certificate in interior design from the Interior Design Institute in Newport Beach, California.

Currently I write freelance news features for a daily newspaper and feature stories for a quarterly women's magazine. For pleasure I belong to a a poetry group.

I am also a painter, and work in watercolor, oils and acrylics (usually at different times.)

My passion is ...

writing and painting

I know too much about ...

small business

My parents always told me ...

I could be whatever I wanted to be

My childhood ambition ...

to be a nurse

My favorite memory ...

sailing with my husband, picking fragrant English violets beside the river as a little girl

Why I write ...

It is a way of being understood, of sharing the experience of being a human being

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

a biography of William Clark (Lewis & Clark,) Jim Leher's News Hour, NPR, light classical music

My first job ...

Working in a local florist shop

My best moment ...

having my babies, seeing a book I had co-authored filling the window of a bookstore in NYC

My inspiration ...

a beautiful view of nature, a beautiful human face

Creative Writing > Memoirs Memoirs: How my garden helped me learn about love or how to survive its loss

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 The damp, dark earthy smell and velvety moss carefully planted in the shape of a cross, these are vivid memories recalling one of my earliest childhood gardening experiences.   When I was seven years old, our family pet, an English setter named Patsy, died at age thirteen.  This was my first personal encounter with death and loss, and I shed copious tears when I understood that I would never again stroke the soft, spotty coat or look into the deep, soulful eyes of that kindly old dog. I had lost a beloved friend.  As an only child, my parents encouraged me to play...

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Writing:

• Marketplace Premier Writer
• Professional Journalist
• Teacher
• Marketplace Approved Writer
• 2Marketplace Articles Sold
• News Writer
• Helium Charter Member