Creative Nonfiction

A bit of my writing: California Dreams: The 2005 SSA Convention: An excerpt from my article in April 2005's Soaring magazine

This book was authored by a someone with whom I worked as a writing teacher and coach, and I'm very pleased with the outcome:

Project Engineering: The Essential Toolbox for Young Engineers by Frederick Plummer (Butterworth-Heinemann, a division of Elsevier, June 15, 2007)

I gave co-author Kristin Farry a great deal of editing and proofreading input, reading every chapter at least once and some of the chapters multiple times. This an excellent book and still in print. I'm glad I played a part in its creation.

Customer-Centered Products: Creating Successful Products Through Smart Requirements Management by Ivy F. Hooks and Kristin A. Farry (AMACOM, 2001)

In 1998 I started writing nonfiction, and discovered that I really like it. My first foray into the territory was a factual article for Analog Science Fiction and Fact. Titled "Catching the Wind from the Sun," it explained NASA's Genesis Discovery Mission and appeared in the November 1998 issue. Since then, I've written magazine articles on topics ranging from aviation to education to science and technology. A couple of articles of mine had to do with business technology, for the Association of Corporate Travel Executives Quarterly. I've done some technical editing too, and even press releases and radio ad copy for my church - St. Stephen's Episcopal in Houston.

Two more of my favorite magazines to write for are Gliding and Motorgliding International, which is an online magazine, and Soaring, the magazine of the Soaring Society of America.

"Ethical Dilemma: Can Ethics Be Taught?" appeared in the Spring 2003 issue of Collegium. The educators I interviewed for this article are impressive people - equal parts learned, articulate, and passionate about ethics. Houston was Ground Zero of the Enron scandal, so in this town, the topic of ethics is still a hot one!

Some of my Collegium articles have won awards: the 1999 Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Special Award in the category of Science Writing, for two articles about technology research centers at UH; a Houston Press Club Second Place Award for an article on poet Vassar Millar; and a Women in Communications, Houston Chapter, first place award for the same article.