Why I Started Writing:

Our family moved often while I was a child. At age seven, I thought of some rhyming words, wrote them down, and created a poem. Okay, I had created a really bad poem. Still, it was mine, all mine, and I felt a huge surge of joy. I still remember all nineteen words of that poem. Those words were a revelation. Wherever we lived, I could create my own reality, write it down, and take it with me. Books and writing became my faithful companions.   

As a young mother, I drafted a novel for middle-grade children. In between bringing up four children, teaching middle school, caring for elderly parents, and writing a weekly family life column, my first novel gathered dust.  

After retirement, I began asking what my “third act” would be. I really wanted to write books to share the love, joy, and hope of Christ with my children and grandchildren. I dusted off the novel, attended conferences for writers, took classes, and began submitting my work. I am grateful my middle-grade novel, Ride A Summer Wind, has found a home at Elk Lake Publishing.   

Authors Who Have Influenced Me:

Walter Farley and his Black Stallion books were my first favorites along with The Borrowers by Mary Norton. C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle, the Gospel of John, Henri Nouwen, and my faithful friend and critique partner Bettie Boswell have also helped shape me as a writer.  

Books I Have Written:

From 1997-2011, my husband Jim and I coauthored “The Second Half,” a family life column for the Message, a weekly paper for the diocese of Evansville, Indiana. Our column won awards from the Catholic Press Association (now The Catholic Media Association) including two first place awards. Liguori Press published Grounded in God; a book based on our columns.  

What I'm Working On Now:

Podcast: Speeding Past 80--Brief weekly stories of faith, hope, love, and laughter. 

Seeds of Darkness: Middle-grade novel offering a hopeful, faith-focused view of a future world after the fall of technology 

Verbena Watkins Has Had Enough! Elderly, widowed Verbena is fed up with her three lazy adult daughters. After washing all of the Thanksgiving (1968) dishes alone, Verbena points her Nash Rambler north and leaves her old life behind. On the road, Verbena’s adventures include Elvis, Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, and a houseful of hippie drug dealers.