Poet Journalist Novelist
ABOUT ME
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There's not much to tell. I'm just into everything. Restless mind, wanderlust, curiosity.
Of course, such a person would have to spend a lot of time reading from an early age just to satisfy the restlessness. She'd have to move around a bit to satisfy the wanderlust. She'd have to become a journalist to satisfy the curiosity. So I did.
I started reading before I went to school. There was little I wouldn't read. Even after lights out, I would read the titles on the books on a nearby bookshelf, via the ambient light from the streetlamps, and make up new combinations, new titles, and then imagine what such books might be about. Needless to say, I wrote a few stories when I was a child.
But my curiosity needed to be satisfied, too, so I studied everything I could in high school, and more than I should have at university. Pre-med biology. Sociology. Theatre. Thought about linguistics. But I ended up getting a degree in English Literature. What the heck? That covers A LOT of ground. Plus a minor in theatre. In grad school, I switched to journalism for the simple reason that I would need, I realized, a job, not having met a wealthy prince.
Later, I studied art--oil painting and watercolors--at the Art Students League of New York, and horsemanship at the now-shuttered Virginia Intermont College. That last was helpful: Ever since taking those foundational courses in horsemanship, I've been able to run a second career teaching people how to ride and jump horses.
As for the wanderlust, let's put it this way: A while ago, I counted 53 moves since I left home at 18. The most recent big one was from the US to the UK. Then there have been two smaller moves since. I've got the credentials for wanderlust covered, I think.
By the way, that's my horse, Major Yeats, up top. He's retired from jumping now, but at 30 years of age, he's still having a good time living at his retirement home in Virginia.
E-Mail: LauraHMcBride@gmail.com