This is me. This picture was not taken on a writing day. This was one of those days when I swim, kayak, ski, hike, dig in the mud, watch wildlife, hug trees, play with the dog, or fly a kite.
I live in a tiny community near Pictou, Nova Scotia, Canada. My house is surrounded by forests and fields and brooks and flora and fauna – including these deer, who visit in winter to dine on frozen apples.
I have written ten non-fiction books and hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles, short fiction, a bit of poetry and I have been working on the same novel on and off for ten years. I wrote my first “book” at the age of five, on the back of a Christmas card. It took a few more decades to actually be published, after I had worked for newspapers for several years and discovered that people and places are so very interesting. I wanted to discover the stories of people past and present, and then I wanted to tell their stories. I still do.
See more about my writing on the “Books and More” page.
I was born in Corner Brook, Newfoundland & Labrador, where I lived with my family until we moved to Saskatchewan when I was two. Then we moved to a tiny island off the Quebec north shore in time for me to start school in the two-room schoolhouse; to a town in La Gaspésie, Quebec, until I was in high school, and to Cape Breton – where I graduated from high school. I received an undergraduate degree from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, NS, and settled in Pictou County.
As well as writing, I have worked (in no particular order and much of it part-time and/or temporary!) as a house cleaner, babysitter, lifeguard, swim instructor, camp counsellor, advocate for persons with disabilities, a personal caregiver, market gardener, election worker, assistant postmaster, reporter-photographer, bus cleaner, festival coordinator, woodlot manager….. I have probably left something out.
With all that, I should be wealthy, but I’m not – unless I count experiences.
I have a husband, grown-up kids, grandkids, and a dog, Ted, who likes kayak trips.
