Love of the written word has been part of Murphy's life since a child. An avid reader, she began to pen stories as young as age 8, when she wrote her first book about a horse named Lightening. As the years progressed, her writing primarily focused on her nursing career and educational pursuits but venturing onto the stage one day, she broadened her horizons into acting and music. This led her into script, poetry and songwriting.In 2001, she left a 25 year career as a psychiatric nurse and as a community health clinical nurse specialist, entered school nursing. Freedom in the summers enabled her to pursue her creative writing endeavors. A love of genology and history, as well as fantasy, were a combined influence on her first novel, The Pipes Are Calling.Murphy's passion for her Irish heritage permeates her writing. Raised in the Pensylvania coal region, she extensively researched the Molly Maguires, a group of Irish immigrants who battled for workers rights in the coal mining industry of the mid-1800's. Her research led her to write The Pipes Are Calling, which uses the story of the Mollies as a backdrop.Currently, she is compiling a volume of Irish poetry and finishing her second novel entitled wwwirishhearts.com based on the legend of Finn McCool's son Ossian and his band of men, the Fianna.   Visit my blog at http://pipesarecalling.blogdrive.com/