My older sister taught me to write my name before I ever stepped foot into a classroom, and I've been writing ever since, mostly short stories and poems. Then life took an unexpected turn, and I ended up in academia in a field somewhat removed from liberal arts: namely, finance. I was thrilled when I was able to use my love for writing to produce a number of finance textbooks, but my dream of penning a novel remained elusive. Teaching and producing textbooks that would provide me with a supplemental income, paltry as it was, ranked immediately behind my obligations as a single parent of two teenaged sons. I convinced myself I had no time to do anything more, and indeed I probably didn't. However, to be truthful, I also had no idea for a storyline that would support such a big endeavor until I moved to Colorado. I had never been much of a student of history. I did okay on exams due to my ability to memorize lists and dates, but it was mostly a "cram and flush" routine for me. I don't know why, but upon moving to the Denver area, I was almost immediately drawn to learn more about its history. I was struck by the fact that troops from Camp Weld in Denver marched down to Santa Fe to block Confederate troops who were advancing on Colorado from there during the Civil War. I had no idea Colorado had played any part in that war! And I was also unaware of all the Indian uprisings taking place at the same time as the war was raging. Everything I had learned about the history of that period focused entirely on War between the States. But then again, I hadn't studied history in any depth beyond what it took to get a good grade on an exam, so maybe I missed that part. Better late than never, as they say. I began devouring everything I could learn about the history of the Denver area, particularly during the 1860s, even to the point of becoming a member of the Colorado Historical Society (now known as Colorado History Now). My debut novel, What Might Have Been, is the result. Writing it has been a labor of love, as I will reveal in future blogs. I will hope to hear from you, too!
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