I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t a writer. Before I learned the mechanics of writing, I would scrawl lines of loops across pieces of paper. Those loops eventually became stories, diaries and bad poems, written in notebooks or pecked out across the smudgy ribbon of my father’s manual typewriter.

 

When I wasn’t writing I was reading. I read everything; Anne of Green Gables, Jaws, The Lord Of the Rings trilogy,  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Wuthering Heights, and the entire Sherlock Holmes series. I would go from finishing a classic like Of Mice and Men, to a drug store paperback like The Thorn Birds. I just couldn’t get enough of story. Still can’t. My TBR is a bookcase not a pile. 

 

I earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Concordia University in Montreal, way back in 1983. That led to lots of writing about news and events for weekly publications. I was the assistant editor and then managing editor of a community newspaper, for five years.  

 

I left that job to raise my family. The beauty of writing was that I could create my own work. Over the years I’ve edited newsletters, written (and ghostwritten), for health clubs, financial planners, and a women’s organization. 

 

My fiction and personal essays have appeared in The Toronto Star, The Ottawa Citizen, four Chicken Soup for the Soul collections and the fiction anthology The Company We Keep (Buschek books). For two years I published the e-zine WednesdayWoman. 

 

I will have been married to the wonderful and wildly supportive Charls (not a typo), for 37 years as of July, 2023 and during those years we raised two amazing children. 

 

When I found myself in an empty nest, I decided to start a new life chapter focused  on storytelling.  I'm currently writing a novel and helping other writers do the same. 

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Some lovely letters I received from WednesdayWoman readers:

 

Laura L. “Just wanted to tell you how much I love reading your column! You are such a good writer and a “human” writer. You speak for every mother, daughter, wife, sister, friend – and have a great (and funny) perspective on things!”

 

Hilary M. “You have a great ability to see the profound in the everyday. It’s really touching.”

 

Kathy S. “I love your opening stories in this magazine. You bring such insight to life over forgotten little things we should all cherish.”

 

Yvonne S. “I love your magazine. You are such a great writer. I will spread the news about this little on-line gem.”

 

Heather C. “Ok, it is 6am on Wednesday morning and I am bawling at the computer. Both articles.. Missing from the table and the Magic one have made me shed some tears. Thank you for writing so that I may feel.”

 

Mariette B. “Your website is GREAT! I enjoy your sense of humour. It not only makes me laugh but warms me up inside as well. Now I’m thinking next Wednesday is just too long a wait. Thanks.”

 

Liette J. “Visions of you playing air guitar in the broccoli section of the grocery store sends me into fits of laughter. You really are the best at what you do. I SO enjoy your writing and your wonderful WednesdayWoman.”