When I was nine, I told my brother that he and I were the reincarnation of essayist Charles Lamb and sister Mary ~ and that I was Charles.
Family dynamics aside, my dream of being a writer was conceived that day.
That dream led me to earn a Bachelor of Journalism degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia and the Edward R. Murrow Memorial Scholarship Award, given by the actor Ed Asner.
Although our time at Mizzou overlapped, I never
met Brad Pitt or Sheryl Crow, alas.
I devoted the next 20 years to writing novels
is loosely based on my five-year search for my little sister, who was given up for adoption at birth when I was toddler.
That’s a sad story with a happy ending. Sheila and I found each other in 1992 ~ the year after I earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in English/Creative Writing from Mills College.