I'm a lifelong Mississippian, except for a couple of short stints in Boston and Colorado Springs. I'm a graduate of the University of Mississippi with a B.A. in English and Psychology (both very useful majors, although the psychology comes in handy for creating characters, and the English background is great for proofreading and editing). I have an M.A. in English from Mississippi College. I taught English and creative writing at the secondary level for twenty-plus years, establishing a creative writing program and an award-winning student literary magazine. I wrote along with my students and learned about writing skills I could pass on to them, but my own desire to write got pushed into the background.

So I'm a late-blooming fiction writer! I've now published short fiction in Prime Number, Good Housekeeping, Blue Crow, Halfway Down the Stairs, Arkansas Review, and Crescent Review.

The opening chapter of SPIRIT LAMP won a best-of-workshop award in Jane Hamilton's novel workshop at Writers in Paradise, Eckerd College, 2011. I'm currently revising SPIRIT LAMP and seeking representation for my first book, WHATEVER HOUSE.

I'm married to a fine poet/fiction writer who is my toughest and best reader. I have four adult sons and six grandchildren, and I'm step-grandmom to three little boys, including a set of fraternal twin toddlers.

My first novel, WHATEVER HOUSE, is a work of up-market women's fiction set in the late sixties. The second, SPIRIT LAMP, is literary historical fiction set during World War I, the story of an unlikely bond between an elderly black sharecropper and a white teenaged unwed mother. Both novels are complete and would love to find a home.

I offer adult workshops in fiction and poetry for writers at all stages of development. I also offer individual consultation and critique, either in person or online (with a writing sample approval). I'm available to lead writing workshops for secondary teachers, focusing on creativity in the classroom and effective techniques for teaching writing.