I was born in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, and moved with my family to Florida in 1956. From elementary school on, I was a writer. I have kept journals since the seventh grade, and still grieve destroying the first six volumes in the patio fireplace at my childhood home. I currently write a column, "The Sassy Sandpiper," for a start-up online news site, Tampa Bay Reporter. tbreporter.com I've also written poetry and prose, and am pleased to introduce my latest publication, NOTES IN A BOTTLE: Selected Poems. THE SECRET OF THE MERMAID THAT WEPT was my first children's story, written after I returned to Florida from college and work in Kansas City, Missouri, 1980. PROTOCOL 9 and A FLAMINGO NAMED FLANNIGAN were written simultaneously during the early 1990s after school wide budget constraints eliminated my middle school language arts teaching job. When I wasn't in the mood for one story, I worked on the other. I illustrated the children's book with watercolor, colored pencils, and felt markers. When A FLAMINGO NAMED FLANNIGAN was used in a sixth grade literature program, I wrote and illustrated COMPANION GUIDE, an enrichment workbook. Both are suitable for home schooling. The adoption of Lady Jane in 2003 moved me to create a myth called AND THEN THERE WERE GREYHOUNDS, a coloring book which can be used as a fundraiser for greyhound rescue groups. WAAAAY BEYOND LEMONADE is a memoir about surviving cancer and a misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder. View the video introduction here: http://youtu.be/z82xq8rgGyo All of my books are available on Amazon, with the exception of AND THEN THERE WERE GREYHOUNDS. It can be obtained by request through e-mail as a PDF document. I must admit to starting and abandoning many projects. Writing demands a specific time and space, a certain ambience. I am proud of those few that have survived the creative process, the frustration of seeking agents and publishers, and ultimately found themselves in readers' hands. At least half dozen books are still floating around in various stages of completion. I still like handwritten notes stuffed into manila folders. The natural world is my greatest comfort and inspiration. I was thrilled when the St. Petersburg Audubon Society published CANAL DIARY: A HYMN TO URBAN WILDERNESS in 2005. It was republished by ecolutionist http://ecolutionist.com/category/create/fiction/, an environmentally progressive weblog that also features some of my poetry, prose, and photographs. Through the years I've worked as a tutor and mentor. I love helping others bring their imaginings to paper or computer screen. Those who have published know the joy, as I do, of holding a book you wrote for the first time. There is nothing like it. The real life of a book is the reader's interpretation. It hopefully grows far beyond anything the author intended.
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