: About Me

I live with my husband in the High Desert of Central Oregon, and I'm a professional graphic designer who writes on the side. Up until recently, my writing has been more of a past time that I squeezed into my busy life whenever possible. Now that I've lost the majority of my design business to an ever-weakening economy, I'm looking to expand my writerly horizons to the article-writing market.

I now write for Suite 101 and Demand Studios, as well as starting here at Helium. This appears to be a more creative venue than the others, so it adds variety to my nonfiction endeavors. This seems like an energetic and passionate community of folks whom I'm eager to rub elbows with.

I'm a member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and the Central Oregon Writers Guild. I have two published novels, PROJECT RESURRECTION (Speculation Press); DESERT GUARDIAN (The Wild Rose Press), and my literary agent, Elizabeth Winick of McIntosh & Otis is currently shopping two of my latest projects to New York publishers.

Please visit my blog: http://www.karenduvall.blogspot

Please visit my website: http://www.karen-duvall.com

My passion is ...

Fiction writing

I know too much about ...

really creepy and unusual stuff.

My parents always told me ...

to wear clean underwear at all times because you just never know.

My childhood ambition ...

was to either be a writer or an artist.

My favorite memory ...

is my first of sixty skydiving jumps.

Why I write ...

To purge my demons and express my dreams.

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

Torchwood: It's bizarre, and it's British, and the main character is hawt.

My first job ...

Was at a bakery, where I promptly gained 10 pounds within the first 2 weeks.

My best moment ...

Meeting my husband for the first time.

My inspiration ...

My fabulous, adorable, loving pets.

Health & Fitness > Therapy & Counseling Couples on the rocks: Top ten issues to deal with in therapy

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A romantic partnership is complex and challenging, so it's no wonder couples often struggle to make it work. Events that happen over the course of a relationship affect not only a couple's feelings toward each other, but the way they express those feelings are influenced as well. Relationships grow, growth brings change, and some changes aren't always easy to accept. Rocky relationships may be caused by one or more of the top ten issues dealt with in couples therapy: 1) Infidelity - Unfaithfulness can be the most painful experience in a relationship. It's a betrayal of trust, and without f...

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