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Imagination
I was thirteen and learned about reading for pleasure instead of assignment. I was in the midst of creating elaborate notes to friends filled with goofy sayings, rhymes, and silly banter (all in good fun of course). Art, through all mediums, had begun to lead me in new directions. -
My Father
It was a serious change in my life when I found out that the man I always thought to be indestructible had cancer. Unable to share my worry and grief, I began to pour my thoughts onto paper. -
Lyrical Genius
As I grew, I rediscovered a band I liked in the eighties, The Church. Only now I was hearing them through a different lens. Every song off the their new album Priest = Aura, was not just a song but a complete story. Steve Kilbey, singer/songwriter, filled my head with character's and story settings. The flood gates were opened at last. -
Loss
I lost my father early that year. He went surrounded by all who were important one night at home. My confused and complicated spiral began. -
Creative Writing
My senior year I took a creative writing course. Mr. Baker, a brilliant english teacher, taught us how to read literature through different lenses. We wrote short stories, plays, and poetry, all of which we had to publish for a final grade. I got the best grade in both classes and wrote a lot to cope with my fathers death. I can still remember the comment my teacher gave me, "I know I will see your work on a bookstore shelf someday but...your punctuation sucks." He was right. -
Poetry Meetings
So inspired, during my senior year I started attending local poetry meetings at Barnes N Noble. This was when BnB was on the corner of Blackstone and Shaw and there was an upstairs meeting space. I also hung out in Tower District and chatted with other locals at Java Cafe (another sad loss to our community). All in all, we were just a bunch of hopeful writers and artists coming together sharing our passions. -
Borders Books, Music & Cafe
It was a dream part time job. I mean who doesn't want to walk into the aroma of fresh ink and parchment dancing with coffee? For the next four years, off and on, I would help customers find adventures and become an alter ego once a week for children at story time (I was the raccoon). I swallowed up borrowed books and always used my discount. Like I said, dream part time job. -
The Family Came and Time to Reenter
Once my children started to come, my dark stories turned into playful adventures and humorous rhyming poems. With the encouragement of my husband, and after eleven years away from college, I reentered Fresno State to better my writing and "punctuation."