Mary Beth draws on her curiosity and love of research to explore the world around her and write about it. A New Orleans native and true GRITS (Girls Raised in the South), she also has lived in St. Bernard Parish and south Mississippi, with stints in Chicago and northern California. Back home in Pearl River County, she is content to stay put at last. She grew up in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans and learned the joys of beignets and French bread at an early age. And yes, she sucks ‘da heads on crawfish and loves a shrimp po-boy, dressed, please!Her checkered past includes stints as a telephone operator, substitute school teacher, cosmetic sales, home health aide, government contractor, kitchen help in a deli, real estate sales, office manager and corporate trainer.She first saw her name in print as a juvenile book reviewer for her hometown paper on the Young People’s Page and hasn’t stopped writing since. Over the years, her writing topics grew to cover news and feature articles, book and movie reviews, training materials, greeting cards, short fiction, poetry, and church bulletins. Her work has appeared in local and national professional publications, local newspapers and several online sites. Her first novel, Death in the Daylilies, and its sequel, Ambush at the Arboretum, are available as are several story collections and anthologies in which she appears. She is an award winning poet, with several poetry collections to her credit.Her website provides the gateway to her blogs on various topics and the online sites. She also writes “Barnabas on the Road – the Adventures of a Traveling Zebra,” a series of Christian children’s stories featuring a toy zebra. Besides writing, she conducts online training classes for REALTORS™. She is a proud mother and grandmother, and occasional stand-in mother to the “adopted” family of her best friend.She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology, focusing on adult learning. It only took her 30 years to finish it! She is honored to be a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Gamma Mu, and PsyChi.As an author, she belongs to several writing groups in the southern region and enjoys learning more about her craft from all of them. She shares her knowledge through presentations across the country.Mary Beth is proud to be a lifetime member of the Ladies Auxiliary to the VFW through Post 2801, an accredited ESL instructor and a literacy coach for GED students. She excels at breaking software and getting lost in books. Above all, she is a born again Christian who thanks God every day for her salvation and the joys of family and the written word.Read more about this authorRead less about this author