My Writing Journey

Where It All Began

I began writing at seventeen during one of the most difficult seasons of my life. After losing my mother, I found myself in bereavement therapy, where I was gently encouraged to put my thoughts and feelings on paper.

What started as a way to cope with grief soon became much more. Writing became a place where I could process life's joys, losses, questions, and hopes. It became a companion through every season, and nearly thirty years later, I still haven't put the pen down.

For many years, my poems lived quietly in journals, notebooks, and tucked-away folders, shared only with a trusted few

Finding the Courage to Share

In the spring of 2025, something changed.

After decades of writing privately, I felt a quiet nudge to stop hiding my words. I didn't have a grand plan. I simply wanted to see what might happen if I shared a small piece of my heart with the world.

Before long, life asked me to pause again.

In October 2024, I lost my father to suicide. Grief became part of my daily life, and much of 2025 was spent writing my way through it. Those deeply personal pages eventually became three poetry collections that remain among the works I am most proud of.

Although I stepped away from writing for a season after the first anniversary of my father's death, I eventually found my way back. Looking back now, I realize every chapter—even the painful ones—has shaped the writer I am becoming.

A Weekend That Changed Everything

A major turning point in my writing journey came in March 2025 during a women's retreat with my church, Warehouse 242, in Valle Crucis, North Carolina.

The retreat theme was Woven Together, and our guest speaker, Dr. Barbara Peacock, encouraged us to begin writing our autobiographies. As I reflected on my own story, the words of a poem began to take shape.

Throughout the weekend, each woman added a piece of fabric to a communal loom, symbolizing how our individual stories become part of something greater. That beautiful image inspired my poem, Woven Together.

I expected to read it only to my small group, but with encouragement from Dr. Peacock and our pastor, Laurie Landry, I found myself standing before nearly seventy women, sharing my words aloud.

That moment changed something in me.

For the first time, I experienced what it felt like to let my writing leave the safety of my journal and find its way into the hearts of others. That weekend gave me the courage to begin sharing my writing publicly. What followed became the beginning of a journey I never could have imagined.