LOVING THE JOURNEY

Greetings! Thank you for visiting my website.

I am a mom, facilitator-of-writing-fun, writer, and teacher.

 Although I’ve lived in Seattle almost long enough to be a native, my only local alma-mater is the U.W., where I got a B.A in General Studies and a Masters in Social Work.

Writing has always been one of my favorite things to do.

Journaling helped me through painful adolescence. Long before “zines” were popular, I published the “Gage Nightly News” on a monthly basis. After college, I wrote comedy sketches and humor columns. During my ten years as a children’s mental health therapist, I wrote curricula for counseling groups and also composed songs, poetry, and game shows for staff meeting entertainment.  

I never sent anything out to a publisher. I thought that was only for “real” writers.

Then I read Escaping into the Open, by Elizabeth Berg. In a chapter called Myths to Ignore, under the heading It’s Hard to Get Published, she wrote “…if you can write at all well, your odds are already greatly improved.”

I wrote a story. I sent it to Ladybug magazine. They bought it.

If my life were a movie, or if I had a different temperament, my writing career might have taken off after that. However my life is much calmer than a movie and I am a wee bit unfocused (see General Studies degree, above.)

I write because I love to. Every now and then I send something out. Every now and then something I write gets published. I am writing a book and hope to finish it before Barack Obama’s first term is up.

In the meantime, I cherish the time I spend working closely with other writers, such as Holly Cupala, Julie Reinhardt, and Kimberlee Conway-Ireton. I delight in the lively meetings and conferences of Western Washington Society for Children’s Bookwriters and Illustrators. I have fun playing with young writers at the camps and after school groups that I run. I take pride in the mornings I rise early to write before work.

I am loving the journey.