WRITER
The writing life is a journey, both pleasant and painful. Those of you on this journey with me know what I mean especially if you are pursuing publication as I am. I’ve been studying the writing craft for years and am intrigued with the process.


Words can be so powerful and finding just the right one for each sentence is an art. How a writer loves to string together that perfect set of sentences to come up with the perfectly written paragraph. But that is something that is very subjective. You have to learn to please yourself because there will always be critics.


I spent the first semester of my senior year of college in Oxford, England studying British Literature. I fell in love with England immediately. Eventually, I came to appreciate the written word, historical novels of many types, including Jane Austen and all things Regency. Today I still love to watch Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility.


I received my Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Bethany College in West Virginia and my Masters Degree in Social Work from West Virginia University. So it’s no wonder that I also enjoy studying different cultures and society.


My Christian faith is very important to me and its only natural that God is easily detected in my writing because he is so much a part of my every day life. Faith is a journey for each of us and I love to explore my character’s faith issues, whether they are running toward God or away from him and the reasons behind their motives. Fascinating stuff.


I’ve always been a romantic and enjoy weaving the romance between a couple throughout a novel. Otherwise it’s just no fun. So you’ll always find a little romance, a lot of faith, something about mental health, and critters of all assortments in my books. My entire family and I are animal lovers. We now have three cats and two dogs.


So I hope you’ll join me on this journey of the heart for it is surely a labor of love.

COUNSELOR
My husband and I have been social workers in Cincinnati for 27 years. We've both worked in
mental health facilities, in-patient and out-patient. We've also both worked on in-patient and
out-patient dialysis units and are still employed in hospital settings.

I have worked as a counselor for nursing students for the past 12 years and love my job. 
Helping others achieve their goals and dreams is very rewarding. And of course I tell them 
they must take excellent care of me should I ever show up in a hospital bed. We baby-boomers
are aging gracefully, but we are aging.

Mental health in today's stressful world cannot be ignored. If I can help nursing students 
learn how to cope with stress and anxiety then they can pass it on to all the patients and 
families they will work with in the future. Just think of this: if I helped only 10 students
a year and they in turn each helped 10 patients a year then I have helped 1,200 people in some
small or large way over the past 12 years. Is that a cool job or what?

Under the tab labeled mental health advocate on this website you will find all kinds of 
interesting information. Check it out when time allows.

I encourage you all to be brave and be bold and don't be afraid to take the road less traveled. 
          

ROAD LESS TRAVELED

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth


Then took the other as just as far
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that, the passing there 
Had worn them really about the same


And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way
I doubted if I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference
Robert Frost