(The photo includes my inspiration for the little boy in SleepyTown, Zander.)

If you were to meet me, you would probably never guess something unique about me. Most people do not know that I was born with Polio. It was a rare thing, but I survived, and here I am.

Polio affected my left leg from the knee down. I was paralized and did not have much control over my foot. When I began to learn to walk, I had a lot of difficulty. This lead to several operations in Birmingham, Alabama to give me more control over my foot. I wore a special brace from a child until Junior high School. The operations that I went through helped me be able to move from the brace to a regular shoe. I do not wear a brace anymore, but I do get tired and limp a little.

I never let it slow me down much. It hurts some days, but no one ever knows. I keep it to myself. Of course, I could not play sports in high school. I had to turn toward other interests. This lead to working for ten years in the Public Library of Anniston and a great love for books. That in turn lead to Art and it all finally came together in my Children's Picture Book SleepyTown.

As a child, I loved dogs, crawfish, fireworks, and my microscope set. I had a pet lizard in a glass bowl with a stick in the middle. Sadly, my lizard is no longer with me. (He would be really old by now.) In a weak moment, my mom offered me money to get rid of the lizard. I was broke, so I took the lizard outside and let it go. His name was Oscar.

I always loved to read. I remember finding The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron. I fell in love with that book. I dreamed of flying in space. It has always held the position of *My Favorite Book*. I do love all kinds of Science Fiction and Fantasy as well. I grew up with Lost in Space and My Favorite Martian.

We had horses, when I was a child, and belonged to a saddle club. This was fun. The club had rides on the weekends, and sometimes we camped-out. My favorite horse was very gentle. Her name was Ginger.

I attended Alexandria High School and graduated as Friendliest in Who's Who. Basically, "friendliest" meant that you talked to everyone. I never had a problem talking. I still do not run out of words. Can you tell?

I started working at the Public Library, when I was a senior in high school, and I stayed there for ten years. During that time, I started the audio visual department and participated in a lot of special Children's Programs at the library.

Once, for the Reading Program I was the Comet Man. We had a song and everything that went along with it. The party at the end of the programs always featured skits and lots of fun.

It was during one of those years at the public library that Marian Freeman had an Art display in the auditorium of the library. It fascinated me. I had always wanted to learn how to paint.  So, I started going to her house once a week and painting in her studio with others. Marian allowed us to explore Art and she offered suggestions along the way. Those times were invaluable.

I love writing, too. Sometimes, I write poetry. Sometimes, I write Children's Stories. Other times, I just write something to be writing.  Finally, I get to see my life-long dream come true. I get to combine Art and Writing into a completed book.

Sometimes my characters or stories are built around childhood. Sometimes they are built around my grandson, Zander. SleepyTown was created with inspiration from my youngest daughter, Kimberly and my grandson, Zander.

One night, he was having a difficult time going to sleep and my daughter started singing a made-up-song about going to SleepyTown. Zander went to sleep.

I thought "hmmmm" that would make such a great Picture Book. So, I wrote the story and did the illustrations. I hope you will come to love it as much as we love it. Sometimes Zander will say, "SleepyTown is very, very good." (He is two years old.)

Hopefully, after reading it, you will say the same.

Every night, now,  he says, "I'm going to beat you to SleepyTown, Gomey. I'm going to beat you, Nana." Sometimes I will tell him to hurry and go to sleep and I will meet him under one of the blue trees in SleepyTown. He goes right to sleep thinking about meeting me in SleepyTown.

As all authors do, I have several stories written. A couple of them are waiting for illustrations. Still others are in the planning stage. Then, others have not come to my mind as yet. Give me a few minutes and I am sure that a new idea will pop into my head.

My stories have pieces of me in them, all mixed in with the made-up parts. That's what writers do, mix in the real stuff with the made-up stuff, and they can create any kind of world or special place. What could be better than that?