I was born a poor nerd in graduate student housing. My father was a future psychology professor, and I was his first human case-study. I absorbed my parents’ attention and baby-learning games that would become child development standards. Excitement was driving to Florida to camp and visit relatives. It was the early 1970’s.

In 1973, I became a feminist when Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in tennis. My father bet against her, and our difference of attitude became a source of conflict. Like Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, I learned to question beloved teachers and politely ‘speak truth to power.’ It’s a universal story – the child acquires all she can from her family, then sets off on her heroine’s journey.

Dad’s project was successful – I was a major nerd in school. I started editing and writing for newspapers in the eighth grade, and have published ever since. But I chose to avoid the pressures of writing for major publications or academia. Instead, I became an English teacher, sharing my passion and patience with emerging writers. After my own child-projects were born, I switched to tutoring and volunteering for non-profits and schools. Writing, time, and experience are my gifts to these organizations.

My first big editorial was about the Iran hostage crisis in 1980. My 14-year-old self agonized over those 200 words, looking for simple solutions to huge problems. My father talked through the ideas with me, as he would on most of my high school papers. He was my first and toughest editor, who taught me to revise for stronger words and higher grades. And I was blessed with outstanding teachers who pushed our thinking and writing to new levels. Classmates from my high school and college are also strong writers and grammarians as a result.

Writers like me see ourselves as artists, tasked to illuminate problems and beautify solutions. I learned to focus on issues closer than Iran. “Write what you know,” said Christopher Laney in The Write Motivation. So, you’ll find my experiences as a passionate parent, teacher, advocate, and bilateral breast cancer survivor. Or you can relax with my novel set in the 1980’s – Freshmints, Briggeman College Year One. It’s historical fiction, but the love is real. Thank you for reading!