My goal with this blog is to entertain, inform, and perhaps even engage you, the reader, as I embark on this new segment of my journey as a writer, a reader, a teacher, and an observer of life.

My life as a writer: I have always been a writer. I worked on my class newpaper in fourth grade, engaged in round robin writing with a group of friends during my middle school years (we were working on the next great Beatles movie!), worked on my highschool newspaper for three years, won a state level essay contest sponsored by the Pepsi Co. my senior year of high school, and enjoyed writing provocative essays for assignments in college.

As a freelancer, I have worked writing corporate and educational videos; I’ve written magazine and newspaper articles; I’ve contributed a vast amount of content to online enterprises such as Suite101.com and Examiner.com; I’ve co-written a dozen screenplays and a couple of plays; and most recently I co-wrote and published a mystery novel. I have also written a children’s novel that I hope to publish soon.

My life as a reader: I tend to enjoy non-fiction more than fiction lately, but I try to read widely, if not prolificly. I love discussions about books, and enjoy listening to authors talk about their books on NPR and other forums.

My life as a teacher: my experience for years and years and years was on the kindergarten/first grade level. I have been both a private/Catholic and public school teacher. I have a B.S. in education from Michigan State University (Go Sparty!) and a Master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Go Bucky!) in curriculum & instruction. Most recently I moved out of the classroom and into a position where I provide professional development to teachers while still keeping my hand in testing and providing academic intervention to students one on one.

As a life observer, I probably have no more insight or an interesting life than anyone else. But including this gives me the flexibility to expand my “musings” on this blog. Hopefully you will find my musings worth the read and worth checking back in to see what else I may have to offer.

I’m also open to ideas, so feel free to leave comments, especially if there is something specific you would like me to muse upon; or if you would like to muse upon my musings, please do so.

Mark Twain said, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” I guess I’m about to remove all doubt. Wish me luck!