THE JOURNEY OF A WRITER

My writing has been a journey. From sitting in bed at the age of thirteen knowing I needed to write a book to writing poetry, from romance to “let’s move to Tennessee and become writers,” from log cabins to confession magazines, from empty coffee pots to Vietnam vets, from flash fiction to published books, from editing to final drafts, from agent searches to self-publishing. It’s all part of the wonderful magical thing called writing, a journey that led me to now.

Join Trudy as she explores her journey into writing; how she got there and where she is now.

BIO

I am a retired college professor having taught in the Education Department at Westfield State University for twenty-two years. I am the author of two education books, The Kids Behind the Label: An Inside Look at ADHD for Classroom Teachers and What Every Middle School Teacher Should Know (co-authored with Dave Brown), as well as numerous journal articles. More than 80,000 copies of the two books combined have been sold.

I self-published two novels: Radishes and Red Bandanas: A Novel of the 1960s  and Me, My Guitar, and Elvis. I also self-published three books primarily for my family: It's Been a Good Life: The Love Story of Rex and Jessie Knowles, a biography of my mom and dad, Forty Thousand Miles on the Road, the story of my trip around the world from 1970-1972, and From Lockdown to Vaccinations, about my experiences during the pandemic.

I am the mother of five children and the grandmother of four. When I retired, I had a five-point plan: dance more, make more music, play more with my grandkids, write more, and do more social justice work. So far, I have been successful on all fronts.