A Brief Bio
(some things I love)
Words.
(1969: Hot Springs, Arkansas)
I blame my mother. My father also read to me, but it was Mom who taught me to read.
When I was just a toddler, she taped to familiar household objects (doors, chairs,
even the cat) small slips of paper on which she'd printed words for each object.
I haven't stopped reading since.
Computers.
(1979: Hot Springs, Arkansas)
But Dad has a share of the blame, too. When I was in eighth grade, my school did not yet
offer any computing courses, but a classmate's father offered to teach a private after-school
BASIC programming class for my science teacher and a few students. I was invited to participate.
After each session, I came home and told Dad what I'd learned that day. He was so fascinated
that within weeks he'd found a way to scrape up the money to buy our own TRS-80 computer.
Design.
(1989: Fayetteville, Arkansas)
Psychology degree notwithstanding, I really enjoyed that first year of waiting tables.
But soon the enjoyment dimmed, and I considered my options. I loved designing flyers for
my friends' bands and a fanzine I co-published, and a friend suggested I get a job at Kinko's
and get paid while I saw if I might want to pursue graphic design. I landed a job in their DTP
department, immediately fell in love with the Macintosh, and have owned a Mac ever since.
Books.
(1999: Little Rock, Arkansas)
After a decade of increasingly complex graphic design work, I'd gotten bored.
Sure, I loved the people I worked with at my ad agency job, I had a great boss, and
I got to do some really creative stuff, but other than a portfolio of outdated ads, what did
I really have to show for it? Then I heard of an opening for a production editor at a book
publishing company: not only the chance to produce something somebody might read for
years to come, but a boss willing to teach me book editing. With my love of words,
computers, and design, it was as if I'd been training for this job all my life.
I'd found my calling.
Life.
(2005: Hot Springs, Arkansas)
In the end, of course, I've only myself to blame. In 2002, I moved to Atlanta with my new husband.
Having left the best job I'd ever had, I decided to go freelance. A year later, we had our first and
only child. My freelance business has been a great fit for our family. When we recently moved
back to Arkansas, I didn't have to leave my job, but was able to bring it with me. And working
at home on my own schedule has allowed me to spend more time with my daughter.
That's important, because now it's my turn to print words on small slips of paper:
DOOR, CHAIR, CAT...
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