Writing Highlights and Favorite Books
WRITING HIGHLIGHTS:
1969: Winner of the National Teenage Volunteer Award from the March of Dimes, New York City, New York (based on volunteer work, recommendations and written essay on the “Walkathon to Warm Springs”)
1972: B.S. Degree in Home Economics (Early Childhood Development), The University of Alabama (Essays on Human Development topics)
1977-1978: Assistant to the City Editor of "The Houston Post" and Contributing Reporter to the "Action Line" column, Houston, Texas
1980-1989: Sales Account Executive, Consumer Products, Eastman Kodak Company, Houston, Texas (Created marketing campaigns, presentations and reports celebrating the launch of products and success of film sales for NASA, the Astrodome, the San Jacinto Monument and other important customers. Author of comprehensive report on the Texas Sesquicentennial on April 21, 1986 at the San Jacinto Monument where, months before, Carol met H.R.H. Prince Charles during the Sesquicentennial Celebrations.)
1987-92: CASA (Court-Appointed Special Advocate for Child Abuse Victims) A Volunteer in Houston, Texas and Long Grove, Illinois (Research and reports written and submitted to the Court on behalf of each child represented)
1994-1995: Media Reviewer and Columnist for "Adoptive Families" magazine
1995: Co-Author of VIEWS FROM A PIER with Griffin Owens Campbell, copyright 1996. (A creative non-fiction book encouraging the use of precise language to clarify and confront controversial issues in America. As current today as it was when published in 1996, the 181 page-book includes a peace accord for the abortion rights issue. Please see "Works" for more information. Thank you.)
1998-2000: “Tea and Trumpets” columnist for the "Lake Zurich Courier," Lake Zurich, Illinois
1998-2008, 2019: Attendee at Iowa Summer Writing Festival in Iowa City, Iowa
2000-2005: Attendee at Writing Classes and "Write-By-The-Lake" at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
2007: “Daring Dialogues” columnist for "Remarkable Woman Magazine," Vernon Hills, Illinois
2009-2011: MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction), Solstice MFA Program, Pine Manor College, Chestnut Hill, MA
2011: Joined AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs). Attended AWP Conferences in Chicago, IL (2012), Seattle, WA (2014) and Tampa (2018)
2014: Publication in "One Trick Pony Review" of original poem titled, "Interview with a River" (Thank you to Marilyn Kallet for her generosity of spirit to shepherd this poem to publication.)
2014-2017: Publication of short stories and a poem in the Solstice MFA Program Anthology including "Interview with a River," "As Far as the Letter 'S'," and "When in Jeopardy."
2015: Attended 2015 VQR (Virginia Quarterly Review) Writers' Conference, Charlottesville, Virginia (Bret Anthony Johnston, Instructor)
2017: Joined Authors Guild
2017: Completed manuscript for debut literary novel titled LOOK AWAY NO MORE (former working title of novel: SEPTEMBER FOURTEENTH) (Please see "Works" for further information. Thank you.)
2017: 20th Annual William Faulkner Literary Competition
2nd Place Prize in the Novel Category awarded to SEPTEMBER FOURTEENTH (Title changed to: LOOK AWAY NO MORE)
(Among the comments by the Judges:
"This novel explores the maturation of a privileged young woman who must adapt her life as a Southern Belle to the changing culture of the 1970s. The author skillfully plays off scenes from Hamper University, a Georgia college the protagonist Tally attends, to Kent State University at the time of the deadly protests of the Vietnam War. This author addresses many of the issues of race and identity that Faulkner does in his novels.")
2018: SEPTEMBER FOURTEENTH (Title changed to: LOOK AWAY NO MORE) named a Finalist (Fiction Category) in the 2018 Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards Competition
(Participated in the Tucson Festival of Books Masters Workshop for Finalists, March 2018 with Instructor Ron Hansen, author of "Mariette in Ecstasy" and "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford")
2018: Joined Women's Fiction Writers Association (WFWA)
2018: SEPTEMBER FOURTEENTH (Title changed to: LOOK AWAY NO MORE) named a Semi-Finalist in the 2018 Pirate's Alley William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition
2019: Joined PEN America (Professional Member)
2020: Participated in an online course with CBC (Curtis Brown Creative, London)
FAVORITE BOOKS
"The Moon and Sixpence" by W. Somerset Maugham
"The Member of the Wedding" by Carson McCullers
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee
"Remember Me Like This" by Bret Anthony Johnston
"Light in August" by William Faulkner
"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
"A Pig in Paris" by Steven Huff
"Mariette in Ecstasy" by Ron Hansen
"Mystic River" by Dennis Lehane
"Tourist Season" by Carl Hiaasen
"Packing Light: New and Selected Poems" by Marilyn Kallet
"Resistance" by Annette Marquis
"The Fire This Time" by Randall Kenan
"Twelfth and Race" by Eric K. Goodman
"Fortunately" by Remy Charlip
"Princess Shayna's Invisible Visible Gift" by Sheila N. Glazov
"Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott
"In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
"Night of the Jaguar" by Joe Gannon
"Prodigal Sons" by Mike Miner
"Suitcase City" by Sterling Watson
"Eminent Maricones: Arenas, Lorca, Puig and Me" by Jaime Manrique
"The Scene Book: A Primer for the Fiction Writer" by Sandra Scofield
"Stay Up With Me: Stories" by Tom Barbash
"Madame Bovary" by Gustave Flaubert
"Day of All Saints" by Patricia Grace King
"Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular" by Rust Hills
"Running With Buffalo" by Michael Farrell
"The Choke Artist: Confessions of a Chronic Underachiever" by David Yoo
"HAMILTON: The Revolution" by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter
"Fields of Wonder" by Rod McKuen
"The Docks" by Joanne Carota
"Unfinished Business" by Isabelle Drake
"The Flame and the Flower" by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
"Colored Sugar Water" by Venise Berry
"A New Hunger" by Laure-Anne Bosselaar
"Two for the Road: Adventures in Maine" by Tanya Whiton (Photographs by Heidi Killion)
"Revision: A Creative Approach to Writing and Rewriting Fiction" by David Michael Kaplan
"Farm Girls: Reflections and Impressions" by Candace Simar and Angela F. Foster
"All Back Full" by Robert Lopez
"The End of Baseball: A Novel" by Peter Schilling
"All the Numbers" by Judy Merrill Larsen
"The Art of Time in Fiction: As Long As It Takes" by Joan Silber
"Burning Down the House: Essays on Fiction" by Charles Baxter
"Humboldt: A Novel" by Glenn Vanstrum
"Cementville" by Paulette Livers
"The Never-Open Desert Diner" by James Anderson
"The Hard Way" by William Hastings
"The Secret of Me" by Meg Kearney