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| My view of the Peaks of Otter from my study window |
I'm a retired teacher/freelance writer who lives in Franklin County, Virginia, where I'm close to—but not on—Smith
Mountain Lake). I'm 15 miles from the town of Rocky Mount, which made national headlines in the summer of 2004 when a bear
wandered into Franklin Memorial Hospital. In June 2007, a guy drove his F-150 into the Confederate soldier statue in front
of the court house and demolished the entire statue.
Read my blog or a sample of Peevish Advice.
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Literary News
My work appeared in three books in 2007. A Cup of Comfort for
Writers contains my story, "Out of the Fog," on page 199. More Peevish Advice is my collection of "Peevish
Advice" columns from 2001 to 2006. It Was a Dark and Stormy Night, which contains my 1996 "Worst Western" winning
sentence, is available from The Friday Project.
I've been doing some freelance writing for Leisure Publishing's 2008 Newcomers Guide to Smith Mountain Lake and for
Prime Living. My article, "Blogging to Adventure," (February 2007 issue) is online.
Some of my writing-related activities: I'm vice-president of the Valley Writers Chapter of the Virginia
Writers Club; vice-president of Roanoke Valley Pen Women; and a member of the Lake Writers (the literary branch of the Smith
Mountain Arts Council), the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), and the Children's Literature Association
(ChLA).
Recent News
On Saturday, Nov. 10, 2007, my tombstone was stolen from the family cemetery in Union Hall. The stone measures 2' by 2' by
6" on a base that's 3' by 1' by 6". The stone weighs 360 lbs. and the base weights 400 lbs. You can read the story here.
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My latest self-published book:
Where to get my books: Where There's A Will, Peevish Advice, More Peevish Advice,and The
Girl Who Raced Mules & Other Stories are available from Infinity Publishing, Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, the
General Store at Westlake, Cottage Curio in Salem, Blue Lady Books (online), and other places in the area. When I do readings,
I often have copies with me.
Patches on the Same Quilt is available from the General Store in Westlake, the Franklin County Historical Society,
Cottage Curio, and Blue Lady Books (online).
My Current Writing Projects
My rewritten and revised "Ferradiddledumday," an Appalachian version of the "Rumpelstiltskin" story,
is being shopped around. (My original version of "Ferradiddledumday" is still on the AppLit site.) Fellow Lake Writer Bruce
Rae did black and white line drawings, and I've added a study guide to the revised version.
I contributed to the e-book Self-Publish Your Book: Authors Share Their Experiences(Red Arc Media) in February 2007.
While I've received a complimentary copy, all traces to it on the Internet have vanished.
Available now: My 1996 winning "Worst Western" sentence—and four of my other bad sentences—are in the latest
Bulwer-Lytton anthology, It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: the Second Coming.
| The cover of the Bulwer-Lytton anthology. |
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| My dreadful 1996 "Worst Western" sentence is in it! |
Click the cover to learn more about It Was a Dark and Stormy Night. Meanwhile, I continue to work on my middle-grade
novel and crank out my "Peevish Advice" columns.
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| Ida B. at the General Store |
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| Photo by Jeff Reid |
My humor column, "Peevish Advice," runs every other week in the Smith Mountain Eagle. My writer buddies often send
in letter for Ida B. to answer.
As a freelance writer, I sometimes get to see things I normally wouldn't. Below is a picture of Gray, a quarter horse "painted"
by Debranne Pattillo to show its muscles. My story about the May 2005 equinology class in Wirtz originally appeared in the
Smith Mountain Eagle. Click the picture to access the Equinology site.
| A Horse of a Different Color |
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| Photo by Becky Mushko |
| Equine PT Ruth Mitchell with the painted Gray |
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| Photo by Becky Mushko |
I retired from Roanoke City Public Schools in 1997. Then I taught at Ferrum College for a while, "retiring"
in 2006. (When I became an adjunct English instructor in 1999, I only intended to stay one semester.)
My retirement was short-lived.
In 2006, I was Writer-in-Residence for Roanoke County Schools. During 2006-2007, I spent
a week at each of the five Roanoke County High Schools. I had a wonderful time! Now, I'm officially retired, with a
monthly social security check. While I do a bit of freelance writing, I'm not a full-time writer.
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Some of my books are available at the Blue Lady Bookstore online:
This page is in a perpetual state of construction. Check back periodically for news or announcements.
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