Why I Started Writing:

My writing journey began after I entered my article, "Separation Anxiety," in the 2012 Guideposts Writers Contest. At this time, my inspiration came from having a son return home from the Iraq War. I insisted he live at home while he attended college. After months of treating him like the teenager he was when he first left home, I had to trust God and encourage him to move out and live on his own. I began writing using my journals from my time as a military child to when I was an officer on active duty. There wasn’t any Facebook, and I needed to capture the memories and experiences of the places I’d traveled and the people I’d met.

After the contest, I continued to write for Guideposts, Angel Magazine, and an anthology, Thin Places.  Before I retired from teaching, I worked my dream job instructing fifth graders on how to use their young imaginations to write wonderful stories.

Authors Who Have Influenced Me:

Helen Tucker, Maya Angelo, Mary O’Hara, Linda Sue Park, Rick Bragg, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, John Grisham, Debbie Macomber, Steven King, Christopher Paul Curtis, Sharon Creech, Walter Dean Myers, the Writers of the Bible

Books I Have Written:

God, Mt. Fuji, & Sweet Tea, which will be published by Elk Lake in 2020.

What I'm Working On Now:

God, Mt. Fuji, & Sweet Tea, A Wife’s Journey to Japan to Save Her Marriage, Memoir, God, Mt. Fuji, & Sweet Tea: Devotional, God, Mt. Fuji, & Sweet Tea: Bible Study