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autobiography: wandering texpat -- resting in one place And she said Published in A Pagan's Muse, from Citadel Press, 2003. As someone who grew up the child of a single-mother, the library was a haven for me. I read and read and read: books to entertain, to travel, to explore universes untold. Like every teacher/reader, it was always my dream to write my own novel one day. My first novel, Mariposa: A Love Story, was released November 2014. Since then, I've also written a second novel, called Hoodoopocalypse. I also have several short stories published in anthologies, and am still working on those. To really keep up with that aspect of my life, you can check in on my website here. When I teach, I am happiest teaching multi-layered literature using as many pathways in as possible (from lecture to creative writing to online technology), to share new ideas, and to meet the faces I see every day in the classroom. I often tell students the secret to happiness is to find something you would do everyday, even for free, and then find a job that does that. My whole life, I've been a wanderer. My mom started it-- she couldn't stay put, either, and as she moved us where the good jobs were, we rarely stayed in one place. We traveled around the country, from Illinois, where I was born, to Kentucky, to Louisiana, to Mississippi and then to Florida, where I attended high school and started college. There I met my husband, who has a job that moves us, too, and we continued our travels around the country to Washington state, Texas, and now, back to Louisiana, where I have been teaching at the two universities in town, writing novels, and creating a business of restoring & renting historic houses for the last few years. I jokingly call myself a "Texpatriate"-- someone who has left Texas but can't wait to move back, who longs for the home-state. I traveled briefly to London & Paris in 2002 and cannot wait to go back there for a longer period of time. In spite of the fact that I am an "American Lit" person, my favorite days in London were touring Shakespeare's haunts and finding my little Wife of Bath charm in Canterbury Cathedral and peering around the Bloomsbury district where Virginia Woolf once roamed. I loved being in the classroom while a graduate student, discussing literature and teaching. I miss that kind of peer interaction, and love to attend conferences where others with my passions are also talking about literature & life. I try hard to create that same environment in my own classes, and still, since 1996, I literally get chills whenever students "go there" on their own. Women's Literature, especially Minority Lit and Feminism, Popular Culture and Film Studies are my favorite paths into American Literature of all kinds. I can teach American Literature from the founding of the colonies to today. I strongly believe the traditional canon of American Literature is enhanced, illuminated, and strengthened when we teach ALL of America's aspects of literary genius, together. When I create a syllabus, it's SO hard to limit the authors because I truly want to show my students an entire world of literature in sixteen weeks! These days, I find I'm looking for a place outside of Academia where I can use my skills in new ways. I've been working as an editor, indie writer, producer, book trailer video creator-- lots of hats, lots of skills. My business-- Mockingbird Realty-- which I co-own with my husband--started off as a small one-property investment, and now it's grown to 50+ properties managed, vintage houses restored, and fun. You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon, and my blog. What's next for me? Let's see. |