My great aunt Georgia was a poet. I didn't know this until one afternoon when I was rummaging through the "treasures" in my father's attic and happened across an old tattered leather box. Inside that box were the poems she'd written. As I read them, I realized that they were actually a chronicle of her life as a young woman. In rhyme, she told about her mother and father, her sisters, her first lover, her husband (Uncle Jim), and finally about a son, lost all too soon.
I remember Aunt Georgia from my childhood. She was one of my grandmother's sisters, and although my memories of her are vague, I do recall that she was a small woman with a sweet smile and rosy cheeks. Sometimes, when we would visit my grandmother's house for Sunday dinner, Georgia and Jim would also be there. Even as a child, I had the feeling that they didn't mix much with the rest of the family. So, I guess it stands to reason that she never shared her poetry with them. But decades later, she shared it with me in that dusty attic.
Georgia never got her poems published; actually I doubt that she ever gave that a thought as she took pen in hand. But now, those "poems in the attic" are my legacy, and if I could talk to Aunt Georgia today, I would tell her how much they mean to me and how glad I am to know that she shared my love of writing.
I'll forego the cut-and-dried resume and just say that I've worked as a newspaper reporter in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and have sold articles and short stories to various magazines, including Ladies' Home Journal, OfficePro, Employment Times, Tacenda Magazine and The Fiction Primer. My true crime book, A Picture Perfect Kid, published by Zumaya Publications, was a 2004 EPPIE Award finalist. My recently released suspense novel, Sins of the Past, is now available in paperback and my paranormal mysteries Spirit Lake and Echoes of the Past are due out in paperback in early 2009. Murder at the Ice Cream Parlor, Vengeance Can Wait, and Murder at the Loft are cozy mysteries I co-authored in the past.and are still available in paperback, even though I now write strictly solo.
But above and beyond the writing, I must say my two best accomplishments are my son and daughter, David and Sarah. They are grown up now and Sarah has blessed me with a beautiful granddaughter, Andrea, and a lively grandson, Paul.
Please feel free to e mail me at: cguy1943@yahoo.com . I love hearing from my readers.
