VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

MaryAnn Tatro attended Southern Ohio Business College and received a degree in Office Administration and Communication. She also attended Cooper School of Art for one year and took with her a love to create, design and color. She worked several years for a publishing company in Cleveland while raising her son Ryan. Tatro grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, but her heart is in the country. She currently lives in Wadsworth, Ohio with her husband Dennis of 20 years and their cat. She and her husband enjoy nature walks, antiques, yard sales and being with family.   VS: I want to thank you for being my guest here on The Writing Mama today, Maryann.What do you do to help balance your writing life with your family life? Maryann: I don’t write everyday, only when I feel inspired to do so.   If an idea comes to mind, I will jot down the idea and perhaps use it for future reference.   My family always comes first. VS: How long have you been writing? Maryann:

Patti Brassard was born in upstate NY in 1962 but moved with her military family to Virginia when she was 11 years old. She always loved art in school but never gave a thought to making it a career until she started college in 1980. With no idea where a Fine Arts degree would take her, she instead studied Media Arts Advertising and after graduation, started her own graphic design company so that she could continue to be a work-at-home mother to her daughter Nikki. It was while Nikki was learning to read that Patti mocked up her first book aimed at teaching pre-readers the alphabet. She only shared it with her daughter and her kindergarten class. It was very well received but Patti never pursued the project any further. Over the following years Patti opened a paint-it-yourself pottery studio and got back to being involved in more artistic endeavors. In   2010, she remarried and added Jefferson to her name: Patti Brassard Jefferson.   They moved to the Florida Keys w