The "Real" Me aka More Than You Really Wanted to Know

I grew up in a small town in central Texas. And when I say small, I mean SMALL. Less than 700 people...13 people in my graduating class...1 flashing red light and everything closes up by 8pm. There was no bookstores. No public library. Nothing to feed my insatiable appetite for books. I went through every book in our small school library and was one of Scholastic Books best customers. I couldn't wait for my teachers to send home that beloved book flyer each month. But during the summer I couldn't get books so I decided to create my own stories. Complete, of course, with a happily ever after.

But, as often happens with dreams, life sometimes takes priority. I met my husband, a small town Arizona boy, while he was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas. After serving in Desert Storm, his time with the US Army was up, so we packed up and moved to the desert. Raising children and working to make ends meet took precedence over writing and my dream of becoming an author was almost forgotten. Almost. Then my husband found a box in the garage and asked me if he could throw it away. Inside were all the stories and poems I'd written. I saved the box from the trash and as I reread them, my dream was rekindled.

My life is less hectic now that my children are grown, but life still sometimes gets in the way of my writing. I have a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and a Master's degree in Reading Curriculum and Instruction. I'm also CLIP (Reading Recovery) trained and have an ESL endorsement. I've been a kindergarten or first grade teacher for almost 20 years. (Obviously making a lot of money has never been a priority of mine.) One thing I am passionate about though is reading. Watching my students' eyes light up when they realize they can read the words on the page will always be high up on my the list of accomplishments that I'm most proud of.

When I'm not writing or teaching, I enjoy spending time with my family. Our family enjoys camping, hunting and fishing as often as we can, especially in the beautiful White Mountains of Arizona. Every spare moment I get is spent reading or writing...which drives my husband crazy. Our oldest daughter is in the US Air Force, my middle daughter is just graduated from nursing school and our youngest son is a lineman apprentice for an electric coop and I'm so proud of all of them. Our children are all grown up now (which also drives my husband crazy) but we recently discovered the joys of being grandparents to a beautiful little girl who has her Papa wrapped around her little finger. Yep. I like this grandma gig. A lot.