About Me

If you're going to invest your time reading my blog, I think that entitles you to know a bit about me...

THE PERSONAL BITS:

I am 46 years old, so I'm kind in that stage where I think I know what I want to be when I grow up.  Actually, I think I've been repressing who I want to be for so long and finally that person is just done with the repression.  It's time to overthrow the dictator whose been walking around in this skin for years.

Born in Massachusetts (Well, what do you know, I spelled that correctly the first time!), I have no memory of that because my family moved to the Chicago area when I was only months old.  I, therefore, consider myself a Midwesterner, and I have the lack of accent to prove it.  I loved the Midwest.  Not because I had an idyllic childhood, I didn't.  But I loved it because it was what I knew and where I was comfortable, most of the time.  I have lived in the following places, maybe you've seen me there:

Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Champaign and Urbana, Illinois
San Jose and Los Altos, California
Naples and Bonita Springs, Florida
Matthews, North Carolina
Suwanee, Georgia
Bradford, West Yorkshire, England

I am and have been married to my husband for nearly 17 years.  We make it work.

We have one son who is 15 years old.  Being a mother is a terrifyingly difficult job.  I always think I'm doing it badly. 

We have a dog, a black Labrador Retriever.  She's my shadow.  I should have named her that.

Education:

Bachelor of Arts in English and Rhetoric, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana
Certificate of Legal Technology, Wm. Rainey Harper College
Graduate Certificate in Teaching, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Professional Experience:

Numerous law offices as a Paralegal, Legal Secretary, and Conveyancing Assistant
Legal Assistant at the US subsidiary of a Japanese electronics manufacturer (probably not the one you're thinking of)
Contracts Manager and HR Administrator for a mid-size software development firm
Office Manager, Legal Services Director, HR Manager for property management firm
Retail sales and instructor at a yarn shop, bookstore, clothing stores, and Sears (doesn't everyone work there at some point?)
Teacher, grade level content lead, 7th grade Language Arts and Social Studies

What I'm doing now:

I started by taking a year off from teaching when the family unit moved.  Spousetacular, as I like to call him, really and truly doesn't want me to go back to teaching because, for me, teaching is all-consuming.  I don't take weekends or summers off.  I work during Winter and Spring Break.  I work after school, come home, make dinner, and go back to working on teaching.  I work while I do the laundry.  I work when I'm feverish and vomiting ill.  Needless to say, I put excessive time into teaching.

In my heart of hearts, in the most cliche' of ways as I have just demonstrated, I have always wanted to be a writer.  More about why I haven't written professionally later...suffice to say, that in the back of mind, there is always a narrative flow.  So, when we moved and Spousetacular said, "Do what you want, write that book."  How could I pass that up?  So right now, I'm doing two things, well three, things:

1.  I am writing a book.
2.  I am writing this blog, which should help me build my platform.
3.  I am editing a book for a friend and former colleague, which should improve my writing, and hopefully can be spun off into a movie or television show.

Number 3 was a big surprise and a completely serendipitous event.  I'm enjoying the process, though I don't spend nearly enough time editing daily as I should, and therefore, am wearing the shroud of shame quite frequently. But this week's big goal is to learn to schedule my time more wisely and devote more time to writing and editing.  Wish me luck.