I taught myself how to be a journalist 22 years ago, before the Internet in a coat closet in my home in Vista, CA.

Since then I've gone on to publish thousands of articles in newspapers all over the country including the New York Times. I've published three books. I never knew back when I was 40 and wondering what my lot in life was going to be. Then, my husband Ralph told me to quit my job, try to become a writer, and if I was published nationally in a year, then I was a writer. If not, maybe I should try something else.

Within six months I was published nationally, I went on to be Brenda Starr, we moved a lot, and had a lot of adventures, most of which I wrote about. He died suddenly in the summer of 2018. I'm still a writer.

That's the short version.

Here is my latest and maybe my last 3000-word article ( that's a different story) for this wonderful publication, the San Diego Reader.

https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2020/may/13/feature-vista-has-always-had-my-heart/

Thank you for reading, and thank you to my darling husband.

The Wandering Widow- Day 12

I could never have become a professional writer without Ralph Reed.

About 20 years ago I wrote for a fun magazine that my friend Crista McClure-Swan created for moms who worked from home. I wrote some articles and I had a column called The Reading Room where I reviewed books that I usually read in the tub.

 "The Reading Room," get it?

Anyway, I had always wanted to be a writer (I had always wanted to be an actress really, but some people put the kibosh on that!) and after writing for about a year for the magazine (Did I get paid? Maybe...) Ralph and I sat down and figured out how to make that dream a reality.

"Go ahead and quit your job (as a telephone sales rep- ugh) and figure it out," he said. "If you're published in a national publication, you're a writer. If not, maybe you need to find something else to do."

So two major things to remember: We needed two paychecks and...this was before the Internet, kids.

Off to the library, I went. I studied the Writer's Digest, the market and how to send a query- SASE. 

Within a few months, an article on spec I sent to a very old women's magazine published my story and sent me a check for $150!

I was on my way!

I'm still writing- although it's extremely difficult without my main editor and muse- I hope to continue until I meet up with him again.

 I'm sure he'll have a lot of story ideas by then for me.






 

The Wandering Widow- Day 1

Teddy Rosevelt told me to leave San Diego.

 Well, not really, but his story of losing his wife and mother only hours apart inspired me to travel. Burdened by grief, Teddy abandoned politics, left his infant daughter Alice with his sister Bamie, and, at the end of 1884, struck out for the Dakota territories, where he lived as a rancher and worked as a sheriff for two years. 

I am, however, not going to be a rancher or a sheriff, although I still think I could pull off the sheriff costume. 




I am going to travel and blog for the next 30 days to try and get my head back into writing mode so I can write for a living again.

Writing is difficult. Writing after your husband dies suddenly is almost impossible.

But it's what I do and it's what I will continue to do.

Today I am writing from a hotel in St. George, Utah, a town that used to give me the creeps, but I now enjoy. Things change.

I am off to Moab in a few hours to hike and see the sandstone arches for the first time and possibly get snowed in.

My darling husband loved a good adventure, but he always made sure we had a bag with wine, chocolate, matches and a blanket in the car in case we were snowed in. I have my whole life in the car, including the wine and chocolate, so I'm good to go. 

See, I just wrote a blog post. Teddy knew what he was doing and so do I.