"You never know how strong you are until

being strong is the only choice you have"

/  ISABEL KING in “THE MOuNTAINS BENEATH HER FEET” /

I was born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, but moved to Texas when I was ten and my father went to work for NASA. My sense of “personal place” is divided between my Appalachian background and ancestry, and the Gulf Coast where I now live.

I live in a little Texas town that was a major pass-through for the Santa Fe railroad between Houston and Galveston. Life here is still marked by the presence and the sound of trains... the whistles, the huffing engines, the grinding of metal and the traffic delays. I'm fascinated by the way people need to decorate the cars with colorful graffiti, some of it quite beautiful. I think it's a common human response to want to leave a personal mark, a story: art of some kind to connect us to a larger journey.

I used to live in Western North Carolina. I often walked the mountain trails and would see little stone cairns or dots on trees marking the path. Lots of people like to go off trail, but I always felt comforted by the presence of a boot print, or even bear scat, to let me know that I was not alone.

I’ve been a writer since I was in high school and won a state ready-writing contest with a story about a mother and a daughter. I’ve always felt like an outsider and observer, even in my own family. My book of short stories, The Orchard Camp, is full of characters who are insightful, aware, talented-- but too young, too low on the socioeconomic scale, or too “stuck” to make themselves seen. My novel, “The Mountains Under Her Feet,” was published in March, 2023 and is available from Balance of Seven Press. I’m currently completing a memoir. Pieces of it have appeared in Visible Magazine, Talking Writing, Defunkt Magazine, Sad Girls Club, and Memoir Magazine

I trained as an interfaith chaplain at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. I am also a student at Iliff School of Theology seeking a Master’s in Divinity. I am a Unitarian Universalist and a guest speaker at congregations in the Houston area.

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I have taught social justice and trauma writing and do interfaith social justice work in my community. In October of 2019 I led a women’s pilgrimage to Civil Rights sites in Alabama. In life as in writing, it’s important to connect our personal pain, and our personal story, to what others have been through.

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Work has appeared or is forthcoming in

New Growth: Contemporary Short Stories by Texas Writers, Great Smokies Review, Laurel Review, Davidson Miscellany, Crescent Review, the Dallas Morning News, the Asheville Citizen-Times, Empowerment: A Collection of Poetry and Prose, Synkroniciti, Defunkt, Write Launch, Sad Girls’ Club, Talking Writing, Wraparound South, Asylum, Equinox, Visible Magazine, Memoir Magazine, Octillo Review, Public Poetry anthology, and elsewhere.

Writespace Featured Instructor

What is your favorite thing about writing?  — There are many jobs to be had in this life!  I taught college freshman English for many years, and always knew I was highly replaceable.  Universities can snatch up any number of innocent souls to do that stuff!  But when you write, you are doing something totally unique.  You are creating something that you alone can offer into the world.  And sometimes when I see that I’ve made something beautiful, or come up with a great insight in the process, that’s labor well-spent.  I can tuck my thumbs in my suspenders and say, “wow, I did that, and I like it.”

If you could pick anyone from history to collaborate on a book with, who would it be? — Such a tough question.  Sometimes I think of someone like Aphra Behn, who lived in the 1600s in England and was one of the first women to earn her living by her writing. What an incredible feat at that time in history.  But then I think about someone whose work I’d love to emulate and Margaret Atwood comes to mind.  Her work has such a perfect combination of feminism, myth, amazing plot, and use of language.

What is the one thing you wish you had known about writing when you were just getting started?  When I was seventeen and won the Texas State High School Ready-Writing Contest and got my name on the bank signs all over town, I wish a little bird had told me, “Honey, you are going to be a beginner for a very long time, so you just better get used to it.  Let the rejections roll off.  Don’t give up or try to please people.  Just keep your head down and stay with it and believe that what you have to say is what you ought to be saying.”

Why take a workshop at Writespace? — Well first of all, they are really fun!  I was a student at Writespace before I was a teacher.  There is a workshop for so many writing problems and possibilities.  The instructors are always interesting and you will get to know your classmates and make connections.  Writespace workshops give you a huge return for the small amount of time and money you invest. 

What are you currently reading? — On my nightstand I have Belonging by Toko-pa Turner, Howard’s End by E.M. Forster, Sue Monk Kidd’s The Invention of Wings, Man and his Symbols by Carl Jung, and A Course in Miracles.

What do you think is the most interesting thing about you?  OMG.  The thing that seems to interest most people is how well I have done starting my life over after coming through a traumatic marriage and divorce. But other than that! I’m a hula and Zumba dancing writer.  My father is over 100 years old. I do social justice work and took a group of women to the Civil Rights Trail in Alabama and our journey was documented by a filmmaker.  Oh, and I have kept a dream diary for 30 years, and use dreams regularly in my work! Hope to see you at a workshop soon! 

Writing Philosophy

My impetus to write comes from a desire to make sense of my family and personal experiences and connect them to something of more universal significance. I write because this story, this insight, is something only I can offer. It’s important to manifest your gifts in life. I’ve spent a lot of energy helping others develop their potential and their voice; it’s my time to show forth my own.