Who am i?

I was born in 1962, in a small town called Maryville, which is situated just before the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. I was the 6th generation of my mother’s Roberts line to be born there, and my mountain ancestry gave rise to a vivid imagination as I grew up. After several bumps in the road that became years in the making, I gathered up the strength and courage to go to college later in life, graduating at the age of 44 with a degree in English and writing. From childhood to the day of my college graduation, I had filled tablets with writing that I rarely shared. Due to certain traumas experienced in childhood and adulthood, I was made to feel as if I weren’t good enough. But it was the belief in me by a certain teacher in high school that led me to know that I was indeed good enough to do something with my writing, and I would spend the next thirty years trying to rise above adversity and realize my dreams of becoming a writer.

I used to think that a successful writer was a published one. When I say published, I mean a manuscript has been accepted by a traditional publishing house and promoted. However, that is the farthest thing from the truth. A true successful writer is someone who uses their talents to bring joy, escape, comfort, healing, adventure, contemplation, and much more, to anyone who reads their work. Publishing these days can mean a blog post, a self-published book, or endless paths one might take in today’s world of technology to get their work out and into the hands of readers.

Although writing is my deepest passion, passion alone does not pay the bills, so I engage in my second love; teaching. I work as a Paraprofessional with high school age students in the Special Education Department. Working with kids is one of the most rewarding services an individual can be a part of. I call it a compassionate service because it isn’t a job to me, it is my effort to help students who have difficulty learning, and hopefully, give them a glimpse of the possibilities that are out there for them—and that they are worth those possibilities.

I spend the summers traveling and doing research for a book series I am currently working on called, American Dream. The first installment, Shadows of the Ancient Wood was published in 2016, and I am currently working on volume two, The Eagle and the Lion. I also write poetry, compose and perform bluegrass gospel with my son, and love doing photography.