About the Author

The third oldest of seven children, I was born into a military family. My dad was career Navy, and I loved the military. Regardless of a balance disorder I’d had from birth, I enlisted in the United States Air Force.

Although I couldn’t march, I could do everything else. The Air Force sent me to England, where I met my husband and our son was born. Our two daughters were born in Georgia.

Our youngest, Michelle, was diagnosed with a Williams syndrome at age 3. I lived through some of the typical challenges of dealing with a special-needs child, and I survived the atypical difficulties that characterized the system. Since I was a stay-at-home mom the great majority of Michelle’s life, I was always available and involved with my daughter, as well as the doctors, the schools, the hospitals, and the psychiatric staff.

After tackling the struggles of the day, I enjoyed escaping into a world of make believe by losing myself in the plot of my own story. I wrote one novel-length story after another. Writing fiction helped me to de-stress.  But God started dealing with me about the need to write Michelle’s story. 

So when Michelle was twelve-years-old, I started writing the story of her life – the adventures and struggles; the challenges and difficulties; the experiences few people could relate with, even those parents who were caring for a Williams child. I titled her story “Another Day, Another Challenge; The Biography of a Child with Williams Syndrome.”

Since writing fiction helped me to de-stress from the daily challenges, I didn’t enjoy sacrificing those precious moments in order to relive each experience by putting it into writing.  It wasn’t therapeutic; it was torture.  So writing Michelle’s story was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.  And since I wrote a lot of it as it happened, it took me nearly twelve years to write the first edition, and Michelle’s story has been an ongoing adventure in patience; hence, the third (and hopefully, the last) edition of her story.

Michelle is now 38 years old and doing well.  As any mother, I treasure each positive milestone my daughter reaches, and encourage her to pursue her dreams – and Michelle has a lot of dreams!

As for all the fiction stories I wrote as Michelle was growing up, I decided it was definitely time to pursue publication for them, as well.

To check out Another Day, Another Challenge, please visit About the Book or to learn more about her disorder, please visit About Williams Syndrome.