MY SONGWRITING BIO

​

I started writing as a young child. I wrote short stories in Elementary school sometimes using my Mom’s old typewriter. I grew up on a farm in Berlin, Massachusetts and had inspiration all around me. We called it a sheep farm but in addition to sheep, we had goats, horses, cows, chickens, pheasants, geese, dogs and cats. We also had the cutest, very talkative pigs who loved blueberry pies.

​

As a kid, I had very few friends and at times I actually had no friends. I was the target of cruelty by the kids at school probably because I had a somewhat rough farm girl look and most of my clothes were off brand. What I experienced back then, they call bullying now adays. Kids surely can be cruel.

​

As an escape, I spent a lot of time with my animals, writing and running. Back then I did not know that the depression I endured as a result of being made fun of at school would fuel my passion for both writing and long distance running. Big positives came out of the darkness of those days of being bullied.

​

As a teenager, in addition to writing short stories and essays, I started writing poetry. Lot’s of poetry! Writing has been a loyal friend of mine throughout my life.  When I went to college at the University of Kansas, I decided to major in Journalism. After graduating, I worked for a short time as a freelance newspaper reporter before deciding to explore other parts of the world.

​

At this time, I knew in addition to writing, I had in my spirit a passion for exploring foreign cultures and experiencing human diversity. This passion is probably also rooted in my early loner days of feeling like I didn’t fit in. Exploring foreign countries, was enlightening and inspiring. During my early travel experiences in Ireland, Yugoslavia and Greece, I met lots of people who were as interested in getting to know me, a young female American travelling by myself, as I was in getting to know them. In my travels I discovered different ways of life, fascinating unique cultural gems and I also discovered the strength of the human bond. We may live in different cultures but we share our humanity.

​

Throughout my travels I continued running and writing. I would explore different countries by foot and write about my exciting and enlightening experiences in journals. I filled up many journals. In addition to my journal writing, I also continued to write poetry.

So that brings me to my songwriting and how I came to know myself as Songwriter on the Run. One day in my late 40’s I started to dabble with changing my poetry into song lyrics. On my runs, I would sing my poems into my cell phone recorder. I tried to come up with rough melodies. I became determined to write songs. I have to admit, I was quite naïve at first because I did not realize how very different a poem is from the structure of a song. I wrote my first actual songs with some genuine song structure in the year of my 50th birthday. Here I am now 51 years old, and I have written lyrics for over 30 songs  though I know I have lots of learning to do in my songwriting future. For now, I’m still running and writing!

​

​

                                            MY PROFESSIONAL BIO IN ADDITION TO SONGWRITING

​

Prior to recreating myself as a songwriter at about age 50, I worked in the corporate world in the business field of supply management. While working in supply management, I started a healthy vending company named TNC (Tasty, Nutritious, Convenient). Then, after working in supply management for 14 years, I decided that I wanted to change my direction in life and go into the healthcare field full time. As part of my transition into the healthcare field, I decided to get my RN degree. Next, I launched an online health and fitness company named Compass Fitness which provides guidance and fitness tools to people with chronic healthcare conditions. The company also sells health and fitness products to individuals and healthcare providers. 

​