I am the fourth girl and middle child of seven children. I was named after my Uncles, Bill and Gene, and I think my grandma explained why best. Ultrasounds were not available back in the fifties. The best way to determine the sex was simple: hypothesis. And after three girls, everyone theorized that this baby was a boy. My father had two jobs – a fulltime day gig at a steel mill, and a part time job at a local gas station. He was working at the gas station when Mom went into labor and started making her frantic calls. He told her just one more hour – the extra pay would be worth the wait. That hour stretched to several more until she screamed NOW. When Dad finally picked Mom up, her pains were coming fast and furious. He decided to take the shortcut to the hospital – a trek that required crossing over the railroad tracks in his old pickup truck. The beat up ride bounced all over the tracks – and sent Mom flip-flopping all over the cab. And that is when, my grandmother told me, my penis fell off. Since the name William Eugene had already been chosen – they agreed on the feminine version – Billie Jean. Maybe my grandmother’s colorful story of how I entered into the world – combined with my Gemini personality – is why I love to write. My first writing course was a memoir class at a local college. I was determined to reconcile the sexual abuse I experience in grade school and was sure writing my memoir would provide me a way to heal. The next creative writing course, Literary Journalism, paved the way to my first publication in a local magazine and a by-line on the index page—plus the thrill of seeing my work in print! Publishing my memoir remained an obsession, until I read an interview about an actor’s memoir, which jolted me into reality. The actor’s instant answer to the question, “Is there anything you regret telling?” made me realize that once in print, my life would became public record. I decided then that I could heal in private, and still have a rewarding life. I turned my story into ‘fiction’ and spent several years studying the craft at the local college. When it became clear I wanted more than what the school could offer, I applied to the Advanced Commercial Fiction class at the University of Washington and was accepted into the program. The change in venue brought my characters to life. I plotted their lives to follow my lifeline and they rebelled. They told me clearly, that they had learned from my mistakes (thank you very much), and wanted an opportunity to make their own, unique blunders. The class provided them life and an excerpt in the Goodfellow Press anthology, New Voices V. After many, many final versions, The Weeping Willow Sings was born and is my first novel. In between writing classes, I cultivated a high tech career. I was the exception – a high school graduate with some college under my belt when I landed a software test engineer job at Microsoft. That job gave me the opportunity to stretch myself and develop skills I never thought possible. Today, I’m a geeky grandma and publish a weekly blog for Epicurean Delights. This amazing website is an online e-learning platform that makes it super easy to educate yourself in baking, cooking, cake decorating, cookie design and more. Be sure and check out the how-to videos, and recipes for all skill levels! |