![dawn](https://beyondbucketlist.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/bio-photo.jpg)
Thanks for visiting my website! I hope to have my novel out into the world in 2023.
I finally feel like I have a little wisdom under my belt to write a story that’s truly meaningful.
A few decades ago, I earned a BA in Communications, CSUS with a minor in journalism, had a stint reporting on politics for the Tahoe Daily Tribune, then marketed our Seattle Italian café That’s Amore, for nearly twenty years. As a Certified Toastmaster, I found that in addition to writing, I loved public speaking. Words must emotionally “move” your audience. When speaking, I discovered immediately when I was (and wasn’t) connecting in a relatable way!
When Paul and I moved far away from family & friends to our new Kentucky home, there was a pesky voice in the wee hours of most mornings that whispered, “Get up! You have to share this story of your mother meeting her soulmate at eighty-seven!”
So, I poured over seven years of journal entries, poems, emails, and texts from my mom and Dan’s romantic and free-wheeling days together. Occasionally, I called their friends back on Whidbey Island to confirm a happening here, a conversation there. This group is now my grounding “tribe” via our weekly zoom!
My debut novel I hope, will impact many people in many ways. It’s about a time of life we put off thinking about. I get it. Even my mom still says, “Getting older isn’t for sissies!” But I had the chance to view it through the eyes of two people in love. And these two people already had a lifetime of travels, treasured friends, and accomplishments. They had zero plans of slowing down.
March of 2020, when Covid 19 was gaining traction, I adopted sixty memory care residents where mom lives and began my first day working in the activities department. I have learned so much about the human spirit and the strange and varied world of memory loss. I started a FB Group to share what I learn every day: www.facebook.com/groups/dementiainsider
You can find me rebooting my writing and clearing my head as I walk neighbors’ dogs — or when I breathe in the rolling green hills of Kentucky with my husband on two wheels. I’m partial to an evening glass of bourbon and I’ll forever be on the hunt for creamy, flaky pastries!