My Challenge: Seven Things You Don't Know About Me As a Writer
My friend KD McCrite has challenged me to come up with seven things you won't know about my writing. Ok, so here goes:
1. I've been writing as long as I can remember. My earliest efforts were writing letters. I loved corresponding via mail with anyone who would write me back. I had numerous penpals, some in this country and many abroad. I also carried on a long-standing correspondence with my Great Uncle Hugh who wrote me largely-illegible letters until the day he died. Just before he passed, he sent me a pen he used over the decades that he worked for the Frisco Railroad. I was just a young teenager when he died. I kept the pen for many years, but I don't know what eventually happened to it. I'm very sad that I lost it. Sorry, Uncle Hugh.
2. In high school, I wrote a silly tale about an old lady who climbed a tree for some forgotten reason and wouldn't come down. My literature teacher read it in class, and I never could figure out why she thought it was worth reading.
3. My freshman year in high school, I wrote a long, humorous narrative entitled "My Life as a Freshman." I know, really original. It actually became quite notorious because I named names and detailed events. The reaction was quite a learning experience for me; although, I still can't keep my mouth shut.
3. I was editor of my high school newspaper, and in college I worked on the college paper. The college paper printed one of my studies from my statistics class--a great honor for me at the time.
4. In my Mommy years, I let my writing go largely dormant. However, I was in much demand to write skits for an annual talent show. My greatest achievement was a short sketch performed to the song "Teddy Bears' Picnic."
5. While working as Community Service Coordinator for Arizona's Yavapai County Adult Probation, I created brochures and booklets detailing the program. I also put out a newsletter outlining the accomplishments and goals of my little department. My boss told me to stop because the written stuff made it "look like I had nothing else to do."
6. After moving to the Missouri Ozarks where my husband grew up, I launched a serious writing career. I wrote my first novel "Bred to the Bone: Deadly Secrets at Hunter's Mill," but couldn't sell it to a publisher until after my non-fiction book "West Plains Dance Hall Explosion" was picked up by the History Press. Books about local history have a way of making the authors minor celebrities in their small ponds. I spoke at dozens of local organizations' meetings about the explosion that killed 39 people, and I wrote for regional magazines and the local newspaper focusing on Ozark history and curiosities. What fun those years were! Also, I met some dear friends there, especially KD McCrite.
7. Two years ago, I opened a whole new chapter of my life by moving to northern California to be nearer our children. My husband's diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease had made that move a necessity. "Bred to the Bone: Deadly Secrets at Hunter's Mill" was rereleased in January by a new publisher, and the second book in that "deadly secrets" series, "Ghost of Timmy Wahl," will come out next year. I also edit the occasional manuscript for paying customers.
Bred to the Bone: Deadly Secrets at Hunter's MillLife is good!
1. I've been writing as long as I can remember. My earliest efforts were writing letters. I loved corresponding via mail with anyone who would write me back. I had numerous penpals, some in this country and many abroad. I also carried on a long-standing correspondence with my Great Uncle Hugh who wrote me largely-illegible letters until the day he died. Just before he passed, he sent me a pen he used over the decades that he worked for the Frisco Railroad. I was just a young teenager when he died. I kept the pen for many years, but I don't know what eventually happened to it. I'm very sad that I lost it. Sorry, Uncle Hugh.
2. In high school, I wrote a silly tale about an old lady who climbed a tree for some forgotten reason and wouldn't come down. My literature teacher read it in class, and I never could figure out why she thought it was worth reading.
3. My freshman year in high school, I wrote a long, humorous narrative entitled "My Life as a Freshman." I know, really original. It actually became quite notorious because I named names and detailed events. The reaction was quite a learning experience for me; although, I still can't keep my mouth shut.
3. I was editor of my high school newspaper, and in college I worked on the college paper. The college paper printed one of my studies from my statistics class--a great honor for me at the time.
4. In my Mommy years, I let my writing go largely dormant. However, I was in much demand to write skits for an annual talent show. My greatest achievement was a short sketch performed to the song "Teddy Bears' Picnic."
5. While working as Community Service Coordinator for Arizona's Yavapai County Adult Probation, I created brochures and booklets detailing the program. I also put out a newsletter outlining the accomplishments and goals of my little department. My boss told me to stop because the written stuff made it "look like I had nothing else to do."
6. After moving to the Missouri Ozarks where my husband grew up, I launched a serious writing career. I wrote my first novel "Bred to the Bone: Deadly Secrets at Hunter's Mill," but couldn't sell it to a publisher until after my non-fiction book "West Plains Dance Hall Explosion" was picked up by the History Press. Books about local history have a way of making the authors minor celebrities in their small ponds. I spoke at dozens of local organizations' meetings about the explosion that killed 39 people, and I wrote for regional magazines and the local newspaper focusing on Ozark history and curiosities. What fun those years were! Also, I met some dear friends there, especially KD McCrite.
7. Two years ago, I opened a whole new chapter of my life by moving to northern California to be nearer our children. My husband's diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease had made that move a necessity. "Bred to the Bone: Deadly Secrets at Hunter's Mill" was rereleased in January by a new publisher, and the second book in that "deadly secrets" series, "Ghost of Timmy Wahl," will come out next year. I also edit the occasional manuscript for paying customers.
Bred to the Bone: Deadly Secrets at Hunter's MillLife is good!
No comments have been added yet.
