The Reader’s Digest Great Encyclopedic Dictionary, My First Dictionary, and The Golden Treasury of Poetry—these three treasured childhood books—sit dusty and strewn with random cat hairs on the corner of my home office desk, where I invite my muses to join me and my team. 

In addition to the prone-to-shedding, laconic ginger feline, my office assistant is a dog who sleeps on a leather couch behind me; my other dog, lounging in the nearby club chair, serves as office security. That is the extent of my staff these days. 

I recently found a historic cache of newspapers and magazines with my byline. Cover stories of daring reporting escapades chasing down the truth about neo-Nazi skinheads in the ranks of the U.S. military. There was also The New York Times story – above the fold; I might add – that I wrote covering the culmination of a racist murder during my investigative reporting days. My name was missing from that one. Stringers don’t get bylines. 

I got a mention in the credits of the Emmy-nominated news magazine segment for “ABC Primetime Live”, Stars, Stripes and Swastikas. After wrapping up back-story filming in North Carolina, I joined Sam Donaldson, the anchor, and his two producers for dinner. I recall asking Mr. Donaldson when he knew he had “made it” as a reporter. The producer from California thought it was a stupid question and let the table know, but Sam defended my honor, said it was a good question, and then answered it. He was a gentleman to work with, and I’ve never forgotten his kindness. The producer from Texas, Olive Tally, a Pulitzer-nominated reporter and a fantastic director/storyteller, became one of my best friends, and my youngest daughter is named after her. Check out her latest work here.

Notably missing from that packing box serving as my professional time capsule was every issue I edited of Military Spouse Magazine except one – the first-anniversary copy. That magazine was the poster child of the right time, right place.  It was published when Operation Iraqi Freedom was the news, and our magazine went from prototype to distribution in Barnes & Noble within a year. I interviewed Laura Bush for that cover story. Toby Keith, Sen. John McCain, a host of other A-listers, and several B and C ones granted me interviews in support of families holding down the home front. 

With the surge in the war came an escalation of professional highlights as editor-in-chief of the award-winning CinCHouse.com, an online community of military wives and women in uniform. Somewhere in the digital archives of Lifetime Television are my blogs for them on their hit show Army Wives. In a can-not-lose partnership, CinCHouse.com promoted Army Wives, and with a built-in audience of an enormous online community – let’s say we helped their numbers. In 2008, CinCHouse.com was the Webby Award Winner for Best Lifestyle site. 

After years of being a journalist, I never thought I would have a Top Secret Clearance and work in the U.S. Intelligence community, but that did happen. I cannot confirm nor deny that as the social media lead for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, I wrote this tweet when the CIA launched its Twitter account:

I can confirm I was the editor-in-chief of NGA’s magazine.

Since 2015, I’ve written more marketing plans than blog posts, more communication strategies, and CEO speeches than magazine stories. The stories I did write were for other people, ghostwritten, or without attribution. I didn’t plan to become a corporate executive, but I paid my dues as a strategic communicator, and I was invited to sit at the table as a member of senior leadership.

Now, after more than twenty years of having to ask permission to take vacation leave, I can travel whenever and wherever I want—which I do often. Maybe I’ll start writing about that. My words are free to roam about again. 

On another corner of my desk is a 3×5 inch tin sign that reads “Future award-winning author at work.” It’s hanging off the Webby Award. 

It’s my new mission statement, and my new mantra is that what’s past is prologue. My professional history has set the context for the present, and I intend to write what I know. And there’s mystery, intrigue, humor, romance, and inspiration in them thar hills. I’m on a new adventure to write about it all. My muses have returned, and we’re off on a journey. Come along, or if you prefer, follow me!