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Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Into the New Year

This is it. This is the year when I start blogging and self-publishing. To say that it is nerve-wracking is an understatement, but with a large swig of black coffee I am diving into the fray.



I started writing decades ago, and made my living from technical writing for years. It was fun to work with database enterprises of various types including Lexis/Nexis and Dialog Information Services. Working for Knight-Ridder was exciting, and prior to that doing database building projects for Merrell-Dow Pharmaceuticals and Carstab Corporation taught me quite a bit about chemistry and toxicology. Working on NIOSH grants at Kettering Laboratories opened my eyes to the hazards of heavy metals. 

Some of the people I met became very famous. Some of those spectacular and creative adults pointed me toward education when it was time to find a new career. NOVA helped me redirect my energies to teaching social studies and language arts at the middle school level. After a few years and the requests of several students, I started tutoring. That led to my tutoring business, which led to an interest in learning how to write fiction. For the past several years, I have been experimenting with various genres including horror, fantasy, historical fiction, and poetry. My husband of twenty years, Mark Dooley, is right there with me publishing his own work.



Along the way I have taken quite a few interesting classes, and attended some very worthwhile writing conferences. My husband and I had a great time at the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference as well as the Jackson Hole Writers Conference. Online writing classes from Stanford Continuing Studies and Savvy Authors workshops are extremely helpful for both new and practiced writers.

Now I have been asked to start blogging by some of my students and their parents. Learning how to do new things is something that brings me joy. 

I am happy to announce that my YA horror novel is now available in both ebook and paperback form from Amazon. Pick up a copy, then leave a ...