Who I am

Athens Library Author Fair

As part of The Lamplighter 2015 Artist Writer Mashup, I have been asked to answer a few questions about myself:
Who are you?
What experience do you have writing?
How did you find Lamplighter?
What do you expect to accomplish while participating in the project?

So here goes…I am a female only child born in the baby boom years to first-generation college educated parents who both worked in the education field. I too became a teacher, not by choice, but because my dad said it was a good way to support myself. But I love kids and taught kindergarten and first grade for several years and now work in the schools as part of the psychology team in a rural area of Ohio. I was married for many years, but am now happily divorced. I am the proud mom of three, but lost my son tragically in 2013. I am and always have been/will be a writer. I have visited schools, libraries, etc. and led workshops and taught writing to people from little to big. I currently have a writing club for intermediate school students that meets once a month. I write poetry and essays for adults as well as various works for children. I have won awards for my writing; the most recent was a Work In Progress Grant from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators in 2014. I completed my MFA in creative writing at the Solstice Program of Pine Manor College in 2013.

I found Lamplighter from fellow Appalachian writer, Denton Loving, who posted about the Mashup on Facebook. I am excited to participate in the project because I think it will help me stretch in new creative directions and because it’s just plain fun to write about art.

That’s it in a nutshell!