ABOUT ME AND WRITING
When I think back, it was falling in love with Jo March in Louisa May Alcott’s book Little Women that started my writing career. I’d sit upstairs in my cold bedroom with a hat on my head pouring out my stories just like Jo did in her attic. Later as I traveled about, my writing came in the form of exceedingly long letters, describing to the family back home everything I was seeing and experiencing.
It was only when I moved to Halifax and some friends and I started a writing group that my writing took on a more serious purpose. Our first sessions revolved around drawing words out of a shoe box. The word would be the topic to write about for the next meeting. Many of these ideas turned into longer stories for us all.
However, my writing career would never have taken off without the support and resources of The Writer’s Federation of Nova Scotia. I attended many workshops hosted with visiting authors, enrolled in children’s writing classes, and entered the annual Atlantic Writing Competition. In 2003 I was awarded a position in the WFNS Mentorship program. Under the guidance of Norene Smiley my first book Peggy’s Letters took shape and was published by Orca Books.
Another major influence on my writing was my job in the Youth Services department of Alderney Gate Library. Surrounded by children’s books and being part of an amazingly creative programming team my imagination took flight in so many ways. I wrote and performed puppet shows, created all manner of literacy based children’s programs and best of all I was able to talk to our young patrons about the books they like to read.
Currently I live with Ray, my husband (and number one fan), and Momo, a large black and white tuxedo cat, (my number two fan) in a wonderful old house overlooking Halifax Harbour where fog monsters, sunsets and tall ships keep me looking out of the window for way longer than I should.
