My journey to writing was not a “Light Bulb” moment, but was, instead, a series of lanterns set beside a very long path. Lantern No. 1 was a bored 9-year-old girl who, instead of playing outside in the mosquito-laden Minnesota summer, sat at her grandmother’s wooden farm table, and wrote story after story in her […]
If it hadn’t been for a property dispute, I probably wouldn’t have written the book…
Learning all that I did from watching the downward spirals of alcoholics, I became passionate to write Drunkenland.
Becoming a published author was an unusual journey for me. At the beginning of September 2018, my parents’ dog, Toby, died. I was his primary caregiver and he died alone with me in my room. I grieved his loss for only three weeks. The dog in my life before him, Farley, was a different story. […]
My book started out on a gorgeous, sunny beach overlooking the Pacific.
My book, What Did You Say?, is a collection of the funniest, head-shakingly, goofy things my high school students have said. This collection of quotes are from the first 15 years of my teaching career. Many of my colleagues have asked me what made me decide to start collecting these quotes. Well, here is the […]
When I was very young, I used writing to create a place where grown-ups couldn’t go. Life with my family was tumultuous, often violent, and always seemingly one step away from financial and emotional disaster. Into my stories I put my fears and shame about the way life was and my hopes for what it […]
I realized that I had been working on a series of short stories, all involving the trucking industry.
Initially, I scoffed at myself for thinking I could write something anywhere close to good enough. How dare I refer to myself as an author? I was out of my league before I even started…
One moment my head felt like it had detached and popped up to the ceiling. In the next, I thought my face would end up in the oatmeal. At the same time, a noise blasted into my right ear…
