I have been a writer all my life, but entered the profession for pay about 25 years ago. I recently published Vanished in Hiawatha: The Story of the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians
I had begun this book while I lived in the Washington, DC area and had easy access to the National Archives and Library of Congress, but I later logged many miles continuing the research after I moved from the area.
I was fascinated with this particular story and with the history of mental institutions in general; when I had the chance to return to school, my graduate thesis, The Perception and Treatment of Insanity in Southern Appalachia: 1850 – 1900, seemed a perfect fit for me!
My latest project seems to be a logical next step: Healing, Hell, and the History of American Insane Asylums will provide an interesting discussion on the history and evolution of American asylums, along with some intriguing information about mental health treatments of the past. I particularly want to discuss asylums which have not appeared much in current literature or on websites, and hope to deliver a good read for people interested in the topic.
Though my current focus is on history, as an active freelancer I wrote hundreds of articles for trade publications like Employee Management Today and HR Magazine. Many of these articles have been excerpted or referenced in more than 19 business textbooks like: Global Marketing Management (Wiley, 2007); The Complete Guide to Human Resources and the Law (Aspen Publishers, 2004); Stress-Free Performance Appraisals (Career Press, 2003), etc. I wrote more general articles for many journals and magazines, as well. These include publications like Columbiad: A Quarterly Review of the War Between the States, Parenting, First for Women, Nursing Magazine, Today’s Officer, Texas Highways, Mother Earth News, and others.
I also wrote two historical novels; one of them, A Diamond in the Dust (New York: Dial Books, 2001), was a 2002 Young Adult Library Services Association “Best Books for Young Adults” nominee. My biography, Mary Walker: Civil War Doctor (Greensboro: Morgan Reynolds Publishing, 2007) was unanimously chosen for the 2008 Amelia Bloomer Project, which is sponsored by the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association.