I was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA, on Christmas Day. When I was just nine months old, my parents and older sister moved to Gary, Indiana. Growing up, I cherished the winters spent making snowmen and the summers catching lightning bugs in jars. Snowstorms that buried even the cars often led to school closures, and during those times, books became my refuge. Before I could read, my sister, Gerri, who was only slightly older but incredibly smart, would read age-appropriate mystery stories to me.

 

While Mama cooked delicious meals, Daddy would shovel the snow whenever the sun managed to melt some of it.

As I grew older, I enrolled in nursing school and graduated with an Associate of Arts degree in nursing from Indiana University Northwest. My nursing career not only honed my skills in communication and empathy but also deepened my appreciation for the stories each patient brought. Each encounter became a lesson in understanding and connection, which later fueled my passion for storytelling.

 

Years later, I continued my education and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish from Indiana University Bloomington. Embracing life as an adventure, I discovered my passion for writing and took community classes in both fiction and nonfiction. I also participated in a 6-month online masterclass in screenwriting offered by ScreenwritingU. This class taught me how to create high-concept ideas, write memorable endings, how to incorporate subtext in my narratives, and much more, that would appeal to Hollywood producers and agents. In addition, I took other workshops focused on screenwriting and filmmaking, where I learned to weave narratives that resonate with readers and audiences alike.

 

Through my three years in Toastmasters, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching public speaking and leadership skills, I learned to deliver speeches with confidence and refined my speechwriting abilities. The skills I developed as a nurse—listening, empathizing, and communicating effectively—translated seamlessly into my writing and public speaking endeavors.

 

The fruits of my writing education resulted in the publication of ten short stories in various anthologies. I have also written screenplays and explored poetry.

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I spent years in Egypt, drawn by adventure and by its slower pace, and by the space it gave me to study the craft of writing and to pen articles and more short stories. Much of my time was spent in Luxor at an open-air coffee shop, engaging in the craft while occasionally gazing out at feluccas gliding along the Nile.

 

I also stayed a few days at the Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan, where Agatha Christie wrote part of her classic 1937 mystery, Death on the Nile. I sat where she sat and wrote where she wrote. The hotel rests beside the Nile, just a short boat ride from the Temple of Philae.

 

As a writer (scribe), I was awed by the hieroglyphs carved into the walls by ancient scribes. In the Valley of the Queens and the Valley of the Kings, I studied the inscriptions of crocodiles, birds, snakes, boats, and people—stories etched in stone.

 

I visited the pyramids of Giza, where I had to crouch to pass through the ancient dust of narrow entryways, and in one pyramid, bats circled overhead.

 

I rode camels, swam in the Nile, learned a few Arabic words, met generous and welcoming Egyptians, and even drove a donkey cart. Spending time among the traces of those ancient scribes—and seeing their legacy firsthand—renewed my desire to share my message, thankfully without clay tablets and a stylus.

 

Today, I write with pen and keyboard, but I still feel the weight of their work: a limited vocabulary, heavy tools, and unforgiving materials. Despite the gap of centuries that separate us, I feel a kinship with them.

 

My mission is different from theirs. Mine is to offer a sometimes whimsical, yet always focused, teaching module that will help you discover your confidence and guide you into your inner space where your stories are waiting for you to write.

 

I bring my experiences and background and passion into my writing, and you can do the same. Come—let me show you how!