I am the Activities Director at Laurelmead, an independent retirement community in Providence, Rhode Island. My husband Tim is a manager for Whole Foods, also in Providence. We enjoy spending time with our three grown children, Aaron, April, and Amy. After living in Providence for eighteen years we have recently settled into our “dream home” in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Sitting in front of a cozy fire, surrounded by walls covered with antique quilts and framed crochet work, I believe I have found the perfect setting for my writing.
I was a full-time, stay at home mom until my children were in school and spent many years surrounded by little ones as a Sunday School teacher, and then as a professional nanny, prior to entering the field of senior services.
With kids grown and off to college, I decided to return to school myself. It was in a Children’s Literature class at the Community College of Rhode Island that Curly Pearl was born. When my teacher commented that she had taken the book home to read to her own children, I was inspired to enter it in this contest. This is my first children’s book.
I enjoy honing my skills as a writer by entering contests and have recently won honorable mention awards for two short stories. My work has been published in the anthology, Sacred Water, by Maril Crabtree and will also be included in the soon to be published, Sacred Fire, by the same author. My contributions to these collections reflect my enjoyment of writing about the commonalities of life, the simple moments that we all share and can relate to. I believe Curly Pearl captures a feeling of self doubt that we all recognize and remember from our childhoods, and occasionally are bound to revisit in our adult lives. I plan to follow Curly Pearl with other children’s books that will address the topic of self acceptance.