Well, this is me …
The minute I finished reading Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time” I knew I was a writer. Meg Murry was real to me, even though I knew she was the product of a writer’s imagination. In many ways, I was Meg Murry—shy, awkward, afraid she’d amount to nothing. I wanted to do what L’Engle did, to make people feel seen.
Writing and editing were my nine-to-five job for nearly three decades until I was laid off from my high-paying corporate job, along with our entire team. But in a way, I’m grateful—getting laid off was a wakeup call. Sure, the financial stress of losing my income was no joke, but with every résumé I sent, I realized I didn’t want to feed the corporate machine anymore. I was approaching 60, and I had better things to do with my life.
So, I stopped applying for jobs and took a leap of faith. I tried starting my own business, poured my heart into it, but eventually realized it wasn’t going to work out. So I closed the business and accepted a (very) part-time job as the office manager for a local Quaker community. I have the official title of Hearthkeeper, and I love it.
I also went back to my roots, writing for the love of storytelling. I began writing stories from my life that I hoped people would see themselves in, just as I saw myself in Meg Murry when I was 10 years old.
I’m poor (for now), but I’m happy. (And I’ve got one hand in my pocket and the other is playing a piano, because Alanis Morissette said so.)
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I write about ordinary life with extraordinary honesty.
It’s not for everybody.
I’ve been told on occasion that my stories are too raw, too real, too vulnerable. But that’s exactly why I write them. Because whenever I talk about the things I’ve gone through, people say, “I’ve been there!” They may not have walked the same road, but the recognize the emotions.
Family. Love. Loss. Bad decisions. Good dogs. Choirs. Politics. ADHD. Getting older. Falling down. Getting back up. The moments that shape us in ways we don't recognize until years later. That’s what I write about.
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Whether you’re here to read or write, it’s going to be a real, heartfelt, vulnerable ride, and I’m happy you’re along for it.
