I’m a native New Yorker, contented resident of Tucson, Arizona since 2009, who captures images, relationships, and a sense of time and place with carefully chosen words. 

Writing, public speaking and publishing books, blogs, and articles have given me food for thought to find positive diplomatic ways to wade through the often murky waters of relationships and tension-filled personal and work situations. Words! I love ‘em.

I’m also quick to tell folks, “I’m having a love affair.” There is a general intake of breath when I say this, and bodies lean in to get the full story. When I reveal the love affair is with words, and it has been going on for years, there is a collective sigh—part relief, and part disappointment in not having a juicy tidbit in response to the question of “What’s new?”

My love affair with words began decades ago. Twenty-eight years of teaching young children was a reciprocal experience. Watching kids grab new words and seeing how they played with words reminded me of word games and nonsense words my twin and I invented in childhood. The playing with words and laughing together brought us together.

Words can cause folks to laugh, cry, get indignant, blush, or be crushed, embarrassed, and rejected. A single negative word can make or break my mood, which, if I let it, can bother me for hours. Words can also lift us up, infuse us with pride, energy, self-confidence, ambition, inspiration, and motivation. My mantra for these decades of wordsmithing (and why not use wordsmith as a verb?) has been “Words are Powerful.”

My love affair has lasted through teaching kids and then adults about writing, sharing words that build up esteem, using words that help create safe boundaries and keep me and others off that “conflict escalator.”

My writing is dedicated to ideas, stories, and folks who use words to build bridges, relationships, connections. It’s possible and definitely probable that words can make it better no matter what the “it” is. My website blog, The Writing Life, and Contact are here for you to read, share, respond and let me know what’s doing in your life.

My treasures, my books, are always available for purchase. Thinking of Miller Place: A Memoir of Summer Comfort; and Seedlings, Stories of Relationships hold stories that entertain, challenge, and hopefully inspire you to enhance your life. The enhancement can be one small step each day, or a sweeping change.

Born: Long Island New York USA 

Formal training: BS Education at Wagner College NY, and MA Counseling and Social Work certification at Montclair University , NJ. 

1969-1997: Elementary educator in West Caldwell, New Jersey 28 fulfilling years, also included 1997-2004: Enhanced Life Management, counseling and presenting leadership workshops, negotiation skills in and out of the career setting, conflict resolution training, and process writing for individuals, couples, families, and kids of all ages. 

2004-present: Writing, blogging, and storytelling take center stage.

I’ve been happily married to a wonderful, supportive man aka, my National Treasure, for more than three decades. I enjoy the special bond of being an identical twin, as well as spending time with our extended and “chosen” families. Living in Arizona affords 299 days of sunshine so hiking, biking, walking, finding and walking labyrinths, picnics, outdoors festivals, meditation and yoga fill our lives.

My bedside table, office desk, and official reading table are piled with a schizophrenic assortment of books. Being a people person includes meeting with folks of “that certain age” to share the rich adventures that life brings after…well, after a certain age.

Every generation offers something I can learn from or share with. The next twenty years are sure to be surprising and even more astounding. Stay connected with me.