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Few Life Glimpses
The hardest biographical sketch to write is always your own, whether
or not you're a writer by profession. You can't decide what to throw
in, what to leave out, and whether or not you should list strengths
and flaws, or just strengths.
However, anyone who makes it to this page deserves, I think, a
bit more than the basics I'd send to an editor. So here are a few
tidbits:
-
I like writing and telling stories so much
that I once tried to live out a few. After getting a master's
in English, I went on to be the seneschale of my local Society
for Creative Anachronism. I had a rocky start, but I did
get better. (Robin Hood, eat your heart out.)
-
People often ask members of the SCA, "Are you
in a play?" so I thought it would be fun to do that, too. For
seven years, I produced and performed in shows staged by Nashville's
Circle Players. That's me second from the left, in The Music
Man, wearing a hat that looks like a bowler collided with the
Kellogg's rooster.
-
Although I'm single now, I married in 1982
and in 1987 had Rachel. She's a
cutie. Severely disabled, she's the heroine of many an article
for Special Ed Today magazine. This is Rachel with her nurse,
Phyllis, the real life heroine of "An Act of Desperation,"
which I sold to Chicken Soup for the Caregiver's Soul.
- I'm not really a complex person, and my dreams are fairly
straightforward: sell books, have enough money to pay the
bills and travel a bit, and settle into a cottage. In early
2006, I bought the cottage, which is now more or less swamped
by books and DVDs. I write at night (I'm a lifelong night
owl), and I occasionally escape by scuba diving, hiking, dancing,
and going to movies and bookstores.
- I've gone to the same church since 1993, and I even sing
in the choir. It's a small but awesome church. I'm no angel,
although occasionally I play one in the backyard.
A
Few Memberships, Awards, and Nominations, just to round things
out . . .
- "Strength of Choice" Award, presented by the God
Allows U-Turns Foundation, in conjunction with the Advanced
Writers and Speakers Association, 2004
Fourth Place, Reporting Category, Higher Goals in Christian
Journalism Award, Evangelical Press Association, for "Dirty
Little Secret," Today's Christian Woman, 2003
Nominated, Best Fiction Editor of the Year, Golden Scroll
Awards, given by the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association,
2003
Second Place, Non-Fiction, Southern Christian Writers Conference,
June 1998, for "Taken Hostage by the American Dream," Home
Life
Bronze Award, Original Dramatic Screenplay, Home Front, Houston
International Film Festival, 1989
Member, Romance Writers of America
Member, American Christian Fiction Writers
- The Strength of Choice award gave me an opportunity to
be photographed with four of the most beautiful women on the
planet, who are also dear friends. Linda Evans Shepherd, Eva
Marie Everson, and Allison Bottke. And there's nothing like
posing for an unexpected award to discover that you badly
need a haircut.
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