I was going to start a new blog — another blog — but wanted to talk about something new. Like the things that go on out here on a daily basis. But … . (There’s always a but) for this blog I wanted to focus on my writing more than anything else).

I started my first novel in 1984 when we lived in Jacksonville, FL. It is about a little Indian girl named White Feather. I’ve been interested in Native American cultures since my aunt on my daddy’s side married a full-blooded Choctaw. My cousins were mixed blood and I remember thinking as a child how exciting that must have been. All of my cousins were beautiful people. Although their weren’t ten of them I always called them my 10 little Indian cousins. Now, I wish I had had more time with them. Unfortunately life moved us apart and I’ve lost contact with them.

Back to Tulsa. Tulsa sparked a whole new interest, that of getting a graduate degree. Wayyyy back when I earned my bachelors I had planned on getting a masters. But by the time I had walked across the stage, had the degree in my hand, I had changed my mind. I had had enough of school and of being broke.

A degree in Interior Design (ID) afforded a relative good living for me and my son (from my mistake marriage). I worked in different arenas of ID: worked for any number of ID offices (most were struggling small businesses typical to the profession), worked for an apartment developer and traveled across the south setting up their models, became self-employed and worked as a model builder in Ft. Lauderdale, worked as a store planner for Sears in Atlanta, lived and taught ID in Switzerland (skied and traveled throughout Europe), worked as a traveling salesman selling carpet for a manufacturer and traveled across 101 counties in Texas (with this job I saw no prospects of getting married or of even having a relationship because I was on the road all the time).

Yes, I earned a  masters degree. Actually I earned two of them. My MA in Journalism gave me the tools I needed to carry forward whereas my MHA in Human Relations/Organizational Development opened my mind so much so that I know how to learn almost anything I set my mind to. The intensity of getting two masters back-to-back changed my thinking forever. I will forever be indebted to the instructors at the University of Oklahoma who gave me a chance and helped me over the humps; and to beloved husband who is positive and has supported my endeavors wholehearted.

I haven’t finished my book about White Feather … yet; but (there it is again — that but) I still have every page plus two or three other story lines waiting in the wings. But (good grief, again) I write between caring for the farmhouse, our critters, and making goat milk soaps and lotions, and working in our new garden. Developing a garden is fun except for when it’s in the 90s here in North Carolina. The humidity is better here than that in south Florida; it’s not as hot as it was in Texas; but (once again) it’s still hot.

I’ll write when I can, which I plan on being often.