Who I Am

I used to write everything longhand, on yellow legal pads, but I eventually eliminated that time-consuming step and began writing directly on my computer. When I later learned that my idol, Pat Conroy, wrote all of his novels by hand on yellow legal pads, I very nearly reverted back to doing the same! 

I love to read. I love to write. I love to read about books, and authors, and bookstores. Meeting writers and avid readers - having conversations with those two groups - have created some of my most cherished memories.

After our three sons were grown and gone, my husband (John) and I began talking about downsizing from our huge Victorian house in a small Ohio town and, through a serendipitous series of events, we moved to Hilton Head Island permanently in 2004. Living in this magical place has taken my writing to an entirely different level because just walking out the door inspires me.

Every morning, I ride my bike to care for a feral cat colony living just down the road. After I feed and water them (and we have some purring/head-bonking/leg rubbing/general loving time) I sometimes look for deer in the nearby woods.

 One autumn morning I came upon two bucks engaged in mortal combat, antlers locked together. (Okay, truth be told, they looked as though they really didn't have their hearts in it; every time their antlers locked, each of them gently turned his head this way and that until they disengaged.) Although I've seen this ritual several times on nature shows, I'd never witnessed it in person. And the sound echoing through the trees was primitive and wild and altogether wonderful.

I might see an alligator sunning itself on the bank of a lagoon. Perhaps I'll spot a great blue heron, or several egrets lining another lagoon along the way. A few years ago pelicans were fishing in a tidal creek; I love watching them - they're so prehistoric looking!

I realize that I am so richly blessed that it's unfathomable, but I don't ask why because I don't believe we "earn" our blessings, any more than we earn our tribulations. But I sincerely believe that God gave me a gift and put me here for a reason. So when I experience the abundant wonders of nature, I feel it's my duty to share what I see - and feel - because it would be a travesty not to share it. So I'll go on writing my stories and poems, and I hope you'll go on reading and enjoying them.