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| Age: 56 |
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| What is your current occupation? |
| Freelance Writer/Photographer - since retiring as a school administrator. |
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| What are you studying at AWAI (travel writing,
photography, import/export, or all three)? |
| I'm working toward writing, photography, and copywriting. Learning is a natural process. We should take advantage of every opportunity. |
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| What was your first successful article or photo about
and where did it appear? |
| Although I wrote for newspapers as a hobby and published my own Jaguar magazine many years ago, my first successful article recently was a feature story on lipodissolve published in Southern Health Magazine. It's not travel writing, but it's a byline, a learning opportunity, and a check. |
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| What are you working on now? |
| Currently I write a monthly feature article for Southern Health Magazine. I have a series of children's books in the works as well as several travel articles in various stages of development. As if that doesn't fill enough time, I'm preparing some photos to display and sell and am setting up a web site with inspiritional insights, links to my work and, of course, photos. |
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| What has been your proudest writing, photography, or
import/export moment? |
| Seeing my first article in print and the check that came about the same time, being able to show my family I actually did it, and winning the February AWAI photo contest. I've only been doing this for six months. I guess that's 3 "WOW" moments already! |
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| Please give us an example of how your life has
changed since becoming a travel writer, photographer, or
import-exporter. |
| Since I'm no longer bound by school bells ringing, I enjoy the freedom of having no schedule and the opportunity to be productive at the same time. I'm actually living my longtime dream of writing. Believe me, retirement is not boredom -- it's freedom, if pursued properly. And I have a whole new life experience that includes travelling, writing, and photography to prove it. |
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| What success tip would you like to share with your
fellow AWAI members? |
| DO IT. Whatever your dream, just go ahead and pursue it. Start by getting acquainted with the support services offered through AWAI and ITWPA. There is a great big world out there. It's up to you to reach out and grab the piece that you want. Someone will write the next great story or sell that inspiring photo. It might as well be you. |
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| When did you realize you were living the writer’s or
photographer’s life? |
When Jen Stevens said, "You're a writer. Now prove it."
I am, and I did. And I'm enjoying every minute of this new adventure. |
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Back to Wall
of Fame |
