Reared on an antebellum plantation, I lived among a herd of 76 horses, cattle and cattle rustlers, bootleggers and crooked politicians. Flannery O'conner was a neighbor; Susan Myrick, tech editor of GWTW, was my aunt. My parents were chemists, my father the author of the first study on microscopic analysis, my mother an early researcher in nutrition and dietary needs. My early influences in writing included my father's fiction and poetry from the William and Mary Literary Magazine, and other authors such as Poe, Mitchell, Faulkner, and of course Flannery.

First Place at the Southeast Writers Association conference for excertps from my memoir "Yesterplace: Blue Jeans and Pantaloons in Post WWII Georgia" (2 different years).
First place for an excerpt from my novel "When Darkness Fell on Yesterplace."

Honorable mention for poetry at the SWA conference for "The Deer with Funny Feet."

First place in poetry contest at Mercer University when a senior.