About

I learned as a very young child that I have a creative side. I remember crafting short stories and little rhymes and reading them to my family, shyly at first, and then gaining more confidence as I got a positive reaction. My family wasn’t very big, but they could be loud, and I was often interrupted at the dinner table as I was speaking. So, I learned very early on that if I started telling a story verbally, I would be brushed aside. But if I wrote something down and said, “I have something to read,” I would get their attention. They would take the time to listen, whether out of politeness or interest, I can’t recall, but I had their attention nonetheless. One of my earliest creative memories is my poem called Chitter, which I wrote when I was just ten years old, and centers around a mischievous little mouse who met with a tragic ending. I recall reading that poem to my parents one night and them listening politely until I got to that tragic and unexpected ending. My Dad’s eyes widened in shock and surprise, and he literally sank to his knees in laughter. Long after I was done reading, I could still hear him laughing about that poem. Truth be told, my parents should have probably signed me up for therapy! But I learned then that my words could cause a reaction and evoke emotion, and that made me immensely happy. 

As I got older and matured, my poems matured along with me and started to get deeper and more personal. I dabbled in the romance genre as most young girls do, and then branched out into writing about my father’s sudden death in the beloved poem “His Garage” and feeling his guidance with the poem “So Long For Now.” In my early 20s, as life got busy with work, school, and social life, my writing went dormant, and I actually believed that whatever creative spark I used to have was no longer there. I didn’t really think about my writing too much and actually kept my poems to myself, like a secret I was too embarrassed to reveal. During the lockdown of 2020 during the Covid pandemic, I found my binder of young poems while taking on the project of cleaning out some drawers. As I read through them, I made the brave but scary decision to publish them into a small work called “Walk Through a Field of Flowers,” which was named after one of my creative writing journals in grade school. The reactions from friends and family must have created a spark because I soon found myself writing again and have just recently released my fourth book of poems. My second book, “Scatter Seeds of Kindness,” was an Amazon bestseller and has won numerous awards, and my third and fourth books have been multiple award winners as well. More about each of my books can be found under the Books tab. 

Words can have such a profound and everlasting impact on our lives. One of my earliest impressions of someone else’s work came along when I was in 7th grade. Suddenly, there was this saying, and you might remember it: “If you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, it is yours. If it doesn’t, it never was”. Whoa! my 12-year-old mind was blown! These were deep and insightful words, and they nestled comfortably into the space of my young and impressionable mind. This quote was everywhere: on folders and notebook covers. I remember I had a t-shirt with a gray seagull flying, wings outstretched, and that quote in the background. The fact that I remember that quote 40+ years later speaks to the impact of those words. Back then, the author of the quote was noted as Anonymous, but it has since been credited to Richard Bach, the author of the 1970 book Jonathon Livingston Seagull, which now explains the seagull on the background of my t-shirt.

Sometimes, when we read a poem, we may not be sure that we are interpreting it correctly as the author intended. That’s okay. Poetry, like all art, is open to interpretation. But sometimes, it is nice to know if you are on the same page with the author. It helps you to know if you are in sync, and that helps to build a bond or a kinship between you and the author/artist. You have that feeling that you “get” each other. With my books, I don’t want to take that interpretation away from the reader, but I do offer my own unique perspective regarding each poem. In each of my books, before each poem, I provide my input that includes the backstory, thoughts, motivation, and inspiration about how the poem came to be. I will share the same on each blog post. You can choose to read that or skip right to the poem. It might even be fun to read the poem first and then the story to see if we are on the same page. And if we’re not, that’s okay. I’d love to hear in the comments section your interpretation or views on the poem. So please feel free to share!

Let’s face it: poetry can be intimidating and hard to understand (remember dissecting a poem in English Lit class?). One reaction that I have heard time and again from many people is that my poems are relatable. People have told me that they understand my poetry in ways that they are not always able to understand other poetry. This has caused them to embrace poetry in a way that they may have shied away from previously. I remember speaking to a man once who said to me, “I am a sixty-year-old accountant. I don’t read much poetry. In fact, I don’t read any poetry. But I read your book (Scatter Seeds of Kindness), and I loved it”. What an amazing compliment! Another friend recently wrote to me that she loves my work because the poems and writings remind her of her grandparents, who were farmers, and that we share many of the same values and common sense approach to life. Will everyone find me or my work relatable? Of course not. Some people are looking for deeper and more profound poems, and that’s fine. Poetry, like music or art, is a very personal thing. But if you found The Practical Poet through an internet search or someone shared the link with you, and you were interested enough to check it out, I am hoping you are looking for the type of poetry that I can provide. P.S. I was going to call this blog The Relatable Poet, but I struggle with spelling the word relatable (is there an “e” before the word “able,” or does that get dropped off?!), so I decided that Practical was more…well practical!

I feel like, in this day and age, people are searching for content that touches their hearts and speaks to their souls. But people are very busy, so picking up a book can seem daunting or like too much of a time commitment. Conversely, the small 4-5 verse excerpts that I post on my social media pages may not be enough content. So, this blog bridges that gap by providing the entire poem for those who want to read it without having to read through an entire book. 

I love the magic of words when they flow together, whether or not they rhyme. I want you to have that same feeling, and I am hoping that I can provide that. My mission is not only to hope you love poetry in all its forms but also to love words, to feel their weight, absorb their impact, and carry them with you in your head and in your heart. And maybe a word or a line or a verse will stick with you, and you will tuck it away for future reference, to pull out and recycle during various stages of life, like that 7th-grade quote that I can still remember all these years later. That is what I hope you find here. That is the greatest compliment I could ever receive. 

What else can I tell you about myself? I have worked with and been featured by such groups as Literary Titan, The BookFest, Reader Views (including their Inside Scoop Podcast), and the syndicated radio show America Tonight hosted by Kate Delaney. I am a huge animal lover and cat mama, a full-time employee, fitness enthusiast, certified personal trainer and Pilates instructor, and a lover of all things wine. I hold an MBA degree from the University of Phoenix.

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