When I first started writing I didn't know what to write about. One day as I was dusting, an idea flashed through my mind. Write about your family!

So I started writing stories about my grandparents and parents. I initially thought I was just going to give them to my grandchildren so they would have this knowledge of their family. Then another idea flashed through my mind. Send them in somewhere to be published!

The first story I wrote was about my great-grandmother whose faith never waivered, even in tough times. I called it "All She Had Was Faith and Five Dollars." Life Resources published it in their Mature Living magazine in 2004. It was my first published work. In 2008 I sold the story again to Guideposts Miracle Series, "Miracles in Tough Times."

I then wrote a story about my father. He never said the words "I love you,"  yet we knew he loved us by the things he did for us. Called "Home Sweet Cabin," it was published in the magazine Mature Living and later reprinted in Lake Country Journal Magazine.

My mother forced me to take piano lessons when I was a child. I hated them. But as an adult, I came to appreciate what I learned. "The Piano Lesson" is a tribute to my mother and was published in Mature Living.

When taking care of my elderly mother who slipped into a diabetic coma, I learned that I was not alone as a caregiver. God was with me. "A Half Hour Early" was published in Guideposts Miracle Series, "Miracles of Love."

A trip with my daughter and 3 grandchildren taught me to never give up. "Searching for Buffaloes" was published in Guidposts Let There Be Laughter! series, "On the Highway to Humor."

These got me started on the path to writing about my life. I wrote a book about the joys and obstacles I fought while teaching at-risk students in an inner-city school. I searched for my purpose in life and felt led to teach, then searched for the reason why God sent me down that path in the first place. This book, No Child Left Behind? The True Story of a Teacher's Quest ended up placing third in a 2009 national book contest "Premier Book Awards" in the Memoir category.