A Bit about Big Flame and Little Buck

     I lived in Vermont and worked in the mental health field in the late 1990's. It was my first real job and I loved my position title, Psychosocial Rehabilitation Counselor, because it had so many syllables. I worked in a day treatment program in which I supported job development and training for adults with mental illness. I could be found more often than not driving the agency van around with clients on their way to pick up recycling, mow lawns, or staff a soup kitchen. In the way that only working side-by-side can, there developed a comaradarie and mutual respect that helped me grow as a person. I can only hope I had as positive an influence on my clients as they had on me. This novel is written in honor of them.  

NOVEL DESCRIPTION 

What do you do when someone you love is diagnosed with a debilitating mental illness? 

You can ask Emeline Bates, whose favorite aunt was taken from her home in France in the 1890's. Or Clemens Bates, her son, whose brother Truman was sent to the Vermont Asylum for the Insane in 1932.

Truman Bates was heading for a career in the Vermont granite industry until he began to hear, feel, and see things that no one else could. He was eventually treated for a newly labeled illness: schizophrenia.

Decades later, his nephew Pat Bates and Pat’s best friend, Dante Zuckerman, were typical seniors of the Class of 1984. Dante, who never stopped wondering why he and Pat were best friends despite their huge differences, began to seriously worry that the depression Pat fell into that year would lead him to a life like Uncle Tru's.

While there is no one way for a family to navigate their way through the complexities of mental illness, how they do so is greatly influenced by both the time and place in which it occurs. Equally significant are the friends and community who provide the support needed for a transition to a new normal.

          I told my father a long time ago that I would take the career path less traveled. You can imagine the look I got.

 If I can be a writer, you can, too. I was heavily influenced by The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, who is a true believer that we are all creators. As part of my daily writing practice, I began a flash fiction blog called Story Streaker, where I challenged myself to post everyday for 365 days. I made it halfway before I sunk myself into my novel. I figured that was job done because even though I stopped blogging, I kept writing. Writing Rule # 1: There is no shame in changing paths, for yourself or your characters, as long as you are true to them, and to yourself.

   While writing starts off as a solo journey, what I have learned is that community is what carries it to the destination. I am so grateful for all the feedback and support from my fellow writers, friends, and family. 

I am using this site for posting my short fiction, both in written and audio formats. I hope you enjoy it, or at the very least, get inspired to write, too. I'd be grateful for your feedback and to learn about your creative journey as well. Let me know if you're having trouble with how to begin.

   Setting: I hail from the East Coast: New Hope, PA, to be exact. I have lived all around the country, and in Japan, where I taught English at an engineering university. Now I am in southern California and feel more at home here than I have anywhere else. 

Character: I have had a variety of jobs in my life in my variety of places...dishwasher, interior design showroom sample assistant, theatre usher, hotel maid, zoo tour guide, ESL teacher, and now, author. Reading, long walks, and hanging with my dog are the best things ever. It used to be hanging out with my son, but he's a teenager now and no longer sees me as human. Oh, yeah, my husband Phil is pretty cool. You'd like him.

Plot: I retired from teaching during COVID, which is when I finished 'Big Flame and Little Buck', my first novel. I am now writing my second book, whose working title is 'Rainbow Ranch'. My important other thing that I do is I am a CASA: Court-Appointed Special Advocate. I work with a foster child in that I hang out with him once or twice a month while he is going through the hardest time in his life and I keep doing it. I keep showing up.

Oh, yeah, my husband and I run a sailing charter company together. It's pretty cool. You'd like it.