How I Came to Start Writing
A lot of people will remember me as a jewelry designer since I was on social media and I wrote a newsletter and a blog. I’d not seriously considered writing anything more than this.
After my mother passed away I had questions about so many things in my life and a lot of memories, too, that I didn’t understand. The years passed and although I sorted through a lot of issues and answered a number of the question that were on my mind, there were still lots of questions that remained unanswered.
I started to journal seriously after a class with Julia Cameron. By this time I was living in Santa Fe NM. I thought that I might find answers to some of my remaining questions by writing out everything I could remember about growing up and the various events in my life. I filled a fat notebook with recollections and thoughts starting with my earliest memories and continuing through my experiences during my years in school. I was amazed at the revelations and buried feelings that emerged as I wrote. Journaling turned out to be a wonderful learning tool that continues to serve me well even now.
I've loved mysteries and I read a lot of them over the years. I think I started reading mysteries when I was in college - something to kill time when I should have been studying and a relief valve from the pressures of classes and exams.
After coming to Santa Fe I ran across a cozy mystery series about a woman who inherited a fortune, but the inheritance came with a few strings attached. First of all, she had to agree to move to a small town in the middle of the country and live in the house she’d also inherited. Second, the house came with two cats and she had to agree to take care of them. The house turned out to be a very large Victorian and the cats two very inquisitive Siamese. After reading the first few books in this new series I was hooked and I looked forward to teach new title in the series.
About the time I retired and closed the jewelry business, a friend peeked my interest in writing a mystery of my own. By then I found writing could be an interesting exploration of many aspects of one’s life. I thought this could be a neat idea and signed on with a writing coach - someone I’d known for several years.
My first “assignment” was to select a topic and create four different short stories about that topic. I chose to do one story about some place in New Mexico. I did a second story about a fictional tour of Georgia O’Keeffe’s home in Abiquiu, and a third about Las Vegas NM and the Harvey House hotel at the train station. That one sounded interesting because I’d already been to a number of western US Harvey Houses. The fourth story was set in Florida and included a kayak trip down a local river.
Fast forward to my current mystery novel and the where turns out to be Los Alamos. I’m on my fourth draft. I’m also trying to get my “writer’s website” done.