Gera
Since I can remember, I have kept a notebook, a pen, and a camera within three feet of me at all times.
I was born and raised in Northwest Pennsylvania near the shores of Lake Erie, where my family lived for generations. In my thirties, life took me from Pennsylvania to California, where I got married and started a family. In my forties, early widowhood relocated me to Washington State, where I live today. Now that my children are grown and mostly flown, I have dedicated time to focus on my lifelong work in writing and photography.
I spent my early years reporting and editing for grade school, high school, and college newspapers. Long after school, writing remained a daily practice, filling journals and notebooks while I raised my family, navigated personal loss, and built a career. My work in the mental health field began over thirty years ago, working directly with people navigating sudden loss, crisis, and major life disruptions.
Lessons from the Unexpected grew out of both my clinical background and the unexpected turns in my own life as a young widow. These first books focus specifically on grief and loss because that is where life demanded my immediate attention, but the series extends beyond bereavement. It addresses what happens whenever life completely changes course, whether through parenting, career transitions, identity shifts, midlife rebuilds, or unexpected disruptions along the way. These titles are my first published books, released through my imprint, KoalaMe Creative.
When I’m not seeing clients, clearing sticker bushes, or working on manuscripts, I spend time with friends and family, work on creative projects, and enjoy everything that is the Pacific Northwest.
And, true to form, I still keep notebooks, pens, and a camera close by.
Photographer
It's in the simple things where I find the most beauty. My first career aspiration was to be a photojournalist for National Geographic. This cute fellow was in my backyard and I had a fortunate opportunity. It was thrilling to capture him! Most of my photography reveals my joy of taking in the splendor of creation and admiring The Divine Design of all that's around me. Every day is a good day for a photo safari and I'm thankful to live in the Pacific Northwest now with so much wide open space.
Writer
The other day I was cleaning out a closet and found a huge blue Rubbermaid tote that held much more than I remembered. Inside I found a few copies of the "Saint George Express" from grade school. I forgot that my friends and I convinced our teachers that we should have a student newspaper. Nestled inside were numerous journals and my childhood prose - so many captured moments that I started scribbling down since I was about 8 years old. I was the Features Editor of both my high school and college newspapers. Technical writing, memoir writing, prose, poetry and fiction and many funny notes and love letters to my daughters were in the cache. Writing has always been a part of my life in some fashion or another and is a core part of who I am.