Please share your bio with us and anything else you would like readers to know.
I grew up in a Jewish immigrant neighborhood in New Jersey and became active in the Civil Rights movement during my college years. In the mid-sixties I migrated to San Francisco’s colorful Haight-Ashbury and was part of the counter-culture there. In the seventies, I was the first and only female shipyard welder in Bellingham, Washington.
In the eighties, I returned to the East Coast to earn my MSW at Rutgers University. I relocated to Seattle 2001 to be near my son and his family, and I completed the certificate program in Memoir Writing through the University of Washington Extension in 2003. Today I enjoy hiking, yoga, hanging out with my grandchildren and participating in writing practice groups at East Louisa Bakery Café and Ballard Coffee Works in Seattle.
I felt compelled to tell my story. It’s a story about the times—the ’60s and ’70s. It’s about my following a path that was different from the accepted norm. At a young age I got into trouble with a story that I wrote and was told never to write again. It was Natalie Goldberg who gave me permission to find my voice as a writer.
Can you share some writing experiences with us?
One of my first writing experiences was in a workshop using the exercise called “morning pages” from The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I was shocked to discover that, by some unconscious process I could put words on paper by keeping my hand moving. Later I realized that I needed to learn the craft of writing. I was fortunate to be able to study with Priscilla Long, author of The Writer’s Portable Mentor. Priscilla is a master of language, story structure and the joy of writing practice.
Tell us briefly about your recently published book and what you feel is the most important topic/sub-message you share.
My memoir Torch in the Dark is the story of how I raised my son as a single mother while struggling with issues of early childhood abuse and pioneering as a journeyman welder in a world surrounded by men who told me I didn’t belong there. The message I wanted to share is that there is a light in everyone that can be a guide through the darkness.
Tell us about your writing space.
I am stimulated by writing in a group with other writers. We write together in coffee shops and share what we have written. Of course, we take our work home and refine it, but it’s the process of writing together that gives life to my writing.
Is there anything you’d go back and do differently now that you have been published, in regards to your writing career?
My writing career has developed along with my growth as a human being. It seems to me that it has unfolded in the only way it could.
Do you have any book signings, tours or special events planned to promote your book that readers might be interested in attending? If so, when and where?
I will be reading from my memoir at the Ballard Senior Center, 5429 32nd Ave in Seattle on Wednesday, May 22 at 12:30 pm.
Use this space to tell us more about your book’s characters. Anything you want your readers to know. Include information on where to find your book(s), any blogs you may have, or how a reader can learn more about you and/or your book(s).
More information about my book is available at www.torchinthedark.com. My book is available in print at Elliott Bay Books, Secret Garden Books, Queen Anne Book Company and Couth Buzzard Bookstore in Seattle, Bluestocking Books in New York and Village Books in Bellingham, Washington. It can also be ordered from Amazon and Barns & Noble. As an ebook, it is available from Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Ebookstore.sony, Ebookpie and Kobobooks.
