My Writing Journey

My love of writing started at the tender age of eight when I found an ancient 1930s manual Underwood typewriter and clacked out my first piece of micro-fiction on whatever piece of paper I could find (probably a water bill my mother had carelessly left lying near the typewriter).

​

​I grew up in Mississippi in the long shadows cast by William Faulkner and Eudora Welty. I was also heavily influenced by P. G. Wodehouse, E.F. Benson, Dorothy Parker, and Robert Benchley (none of whom ever set foot in Mississippi that I know of).  Oh, and also Mark Twain, who actually did set foot in Mississippi.

​

Though I have always loved writing, I never pursued it professionally, having gotten sidetracked by Life and other miscellaneous distractions. I started out to become a writer, but ended up as an engineering manager for a large company in Dallas (as one will).

In college I became the editor of our campus literary magazine.  It was the first (and probably last) time that an electrical engineering major held that post. It was a wonderful, heady time in my life. I won second place several times in state-wide short story competitions, though first place always eluded me (always a bridesmaid, never a bride!). My EE studies eventually edged out my literary pursuits.

When the university finally stuck a BSEE in my hand and told me to get out, I was faced with the dilemma that all writers do: become a writer and live in fifteen-year-old Chevy while trying to get a short story published, or actually use my EE degree and live in a 650-square-foot apartment with free cable.  In the end, the allure of three meals a day won out and I pursued engineering, promising myself that someday I would become the writer I knew I was.

I am now cashing in that IOU.