Why I write...

I grew up on a small farm in Pennsylvania, the oldest of seven children with lots of cousins, aunts, uncles and friends coming and going.  I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t reading. Words and stories have been the one thing I could always count on. As a child I wrote dramatic stories and letters to and about my siblings, letters to the editor of the local newspaper and even letters to the state governor.  

After reading one of my tales my father said, “I’ll be damned if you’re not a writer!” Young girls are very influenced by their fathers; I believed from that day forward, “I am a writer!” 

However, there were many detours before I could focus on my true vocation. I married young, had three children and became a divorce statistic. I graduated from nursing school, which isn’t easy to do as a working single mother.  I worked for twenty years as a nurse and married my husband in 1990. I have a profound understanding of the emotional complexities of life. I adore my three adult children, my two beautiful step daughters, their mates and our ten grandchildren. 

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