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SPECULATIVE FICTION WRITER
SPECULATIVE FICTION WRITER
“I was a great reader of science fiction as a young person, but I began to wonder why the protagonist in a sci-fi or fantasy story was always a man, even when the writer was female. Where were the stories that presented a woman as the problem solver?
A real heroine cannot call on armies to follow her, or pay assassins for special work. She may have children already, so adventure is out of the question, and her family must be secure before she can enter the public square where she has no voice.
So how does a story shape if the young hero must solve problems that girls experience in ways that females address problems? I could find no books that started with this premise, so I had to write some. And that was my first reason to write.
“I loved my time with small theater in Chicago while I worked with Harridan Theater Productions. We did two productions and were mounting a third one when funding evaporated after the Twin Towers came down in 2001. One short play was adopted with a improv group in Berlin, Germany. Another short play (part of Five Easy Theater Pieces) also became part of an international production for a Festival of Shakespeare Shorts in Calgary, Canada in 2002.
I teach playwriting now at Southern New Hampshire University (online), so drama is still in my blood like a drug. Unfortunately, mounting a small theater production drains one’s wealth like a heroin habit.”
“I came to teaching late in my patchwork adventures, and I learn more from students than they learn from me, I suspect. I gained experience in different venues that increased my appreciation for students from many walks of life.
I taught writing for rhetoric classes at DePaul University for 22 years. I have developed online courses at two universities, and instructed professors on managing online sessions over initial semesters.”