Cover blown!
You may possibly have noticed (or not) that I have kept a very low profile on this site. No pictures of me. Little to no biographical information. Instead, it was just about my books. You know, my writing. That was hard enough to put out there for everyone to see when I first released Dead White in 2011.
Why the secrecy? That's largely because I am of that rarely seen subspecies of homo sapiens known as Introvertus Extremus. But it's also because I happened to work for the government for my entire career. Which when you are a peon as I was, meant keeping off everyone's radar and keeping your mouth firmly shut, especially when working for elected officials whose views may or may not reflect your own.
To be clear, nothing I did was political. Nor was I anything fun like a spy or a Navy Seal. I was a technical writer for 10 years in New Mexico and an archivist in Missouri for 21 years. But I am now retired as of last summer and moved back to my hometown to be here for my mother, who is now in care. And I finally realized that I no longer have to keep a low profile unless I wanted to do so.
Though still very publicity shy, I thought I might put a (little) toe in the public water... eventually. Maybe contact South Dakota Magazine to see if they wanted to mention my books in their writers and artists section or show up at a South Dakota book festival. That got blown completely out of the water (and into a swimsuit shot as it were) earlier this year when my mentor, friend, and fellow South Dakotan Linda M. Hasselstrom turned down an interview for a documentary called Books Across America. The idea was to interview 50 authors in 50 states in 50 days. Linda gave the documentarian (Mason Engel) a list of other South Dakota writers (which I wasn't privy to) that included my name.
For some utterly baffling reason, perhaps because my hometown wasn't too far of a drive from the Nebraska writer's, Mason chose me to represent South Dakota. And despite my best efforts to discourage him, he persisted. I kid you not, when I realized that this was actually going to happen, I completely lost my voice for several hours. For me, speaking in public ranks right up there with the Spanish Inquisition. I tried to prepare for what he might ask and even wrote up a cheat sheet. But I really fumbled on the questions I didn't expect. (I did warn him.) I just don't think well on my feet (or on my seat in this case). That's why I am a writer. I can often think of the perfect comeback... a week or two later.
What remains useable for the documentary, I can't say. Literally. I have only seen some stills (Mason and yours truly above) and the trailer that they recently sent ahead of the Kickstarter campaign to gain funding for full production. (They very wisely chose not to scare off potential sponsors by including me. They went for the money shots like James Patterson and Joyce Carol Oates.) Books Across America is meant to air on PBS eventually. Rumor has it, next year sometime. We'll see if I didn't tank the entire thing!
But my face is now out there. Eek! (When I was a kid, I actually jumped out of a canoe once just to avoid getting my picture taken.)
Yes, after years of playing coy by using my initials, I am now outed as a retired woman of a certain age who is about as photogenic as regurgitated sour milk. I grew up on a rural prairie bluff just outside (and now inside the city limits of) Vermillion, South Dakota, with a short stint in Minnesota, where I started school. I went to college in Illinois (B.A. in Literature) and Ohio (Master's in Technical and Scientific Communication) and later back in Illinois (Master's in Library and Information Science with Archival Emphasis).
There you have it, the story of my life. A life that has very little in the way of plot. Two parents (one deceased), three brothers, eight nieces and nephews. No kids, no pets (despite my first word being Dog). Just me and my writing. That's why this site is about my books. There was actually not much cover to blow.
In the end, I hope that it's what's between the covers of my books that keeps you here. Cheers!
You may possibly have noticed (or not) that I have kept a very low profile on this site. No pictures of me. Little to no biographical information. Instead, it was just about my books. You know, my writing. That was hard enough to put out there for everyone to see when I first released Dead White in 2011.
Why the secrecy? That's largely because I am of that rarely seen subspecies of homo sapiens known as Introvertus Extremus. But it's also because I happened to work for the government for my entire career. Which when you are a peon as I was, meant keeping off everyone's radar and keeping your mouth firmly shut, especially when working for elected officials whose views may or may not reflect your own.
To be clear, nothing I did was political. Nor was I anything fun like a spy or a Navy Seal. I was a technical writer for 10 years in New Mexico and an archivist in Missouri for 21 years. But I am now retired as of last summer and moved back to my hometown to be here for my mother, who is now in care. And I finally realized that I no longer have to keep a low profile unless I wanted to do so.
Though still very publicity shy, I thought I might put a (little) toe in the public water... eventually. Maybe contact South Dakota Magazine to see if they wanted to mention my books in their writers and artists section or show up at a South Dakota book festival. That got blown completely out of the water (and into a swimsuit shot as it were) earlier this year when my mentor, friend, and fellow South Dakotan Linda M. Hasselstrom turned down an interview for a documentary called Books Across America. The idea was to interview 50 authors in 50 states in 50 days. Linda gave the documentarian (Mason Engel) a list of other South Dakota writers (which I wasn't privy to) that included my name.
For some utterly baffling reason, perhaps because my hometown wasn't too far of a drive from the Nebraska writer's, Mason chose me to represent South Dakota. And despite my best efforts to discourage him, he persisted. I kid you not, when I realized that this was actually going to happen, I completely lost my voice for several hours. For me, speaking in public ranks right up there with the Spanish Inquisition. I tried to prepare for what he might ask and even wrote up a cheat sheet. But I really fumbled on the questions I didn't expect. (I did warn him.) I just don't think well on my feet (or on my seat in this case). That's why I am a writer. I can often think of the perfect comeback... a week or two later.
What remains useable for the documentary, I can't say. Literally. I have only seen some stills (Mason and yours truly above) and the trailer that they recently sent ahead of the Kickstarter campaign to gain funding for full production. (They very wisely chose not to scare off potential sponsors by including me. They went for the money shots like James Patterson and Joyce Carol Oates.) Books Across America is meant to air on PBS eventually. Rumor has it, next year sometime. We'll see if I didn't tank the entire thing!
But my face is now out there. Eek! (When I was a kid, I actually jumped out of a canoe once just to avoid getting my picture taken.)
Yes, after years of playing coy by using my initials, I am now outed as a retired woman of a certain age who is about as photogenic as regurgitated sour milk. I grew up on a rural prairie bluff just outside (and now inside the city limits of) Vermillion, South Dakota, with a short stint in Minnesota, where I started school. I went to college in Illinois (B.A. in Literature) and Ohio (Master's in Technical and Scientific Communication) and later back in Illinois (Master's in Library and Information Science with Archival Emphasis).
There you have it, the story of my life. A life that has very little in the way of plot. Two parents (one deceased), three brothers, eight nieces and nephews. No kids, no pets (despite my first word being Dog). Just me and my writing. That's why this site is about my books. There was actually not much cover to blow.
In the end, I hope that it's what's between the covers of my books that keeps you here. Cheers!
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