"Samantha Waltz writes with scrupulous honesty and compassion, in a voice as pure and clear as a mountain lake."

Molly Gloss, Award-Winning Author of Jump Off Creek and Wildlife

Writing is the way I make sense out of my world. It always has been. As soon as I could use a pencil, I wrote stories on wide-lined paper about the horse I longed to own. I expressed my adolescent opinions in two pieces published in American Girl. Immediately after college I explored the writing world as a guest editor and then an editorial assistant for Mademoiselle. Later, when I married and had three children, I wrote parenting books for adults and curriculum for preschool programs. As my daughter and two sons grew from diapers into lace panties and superhero underoos, then bikinis and boxers, I wrote a juvenile short story and young-adult novel with teen-aged protagonists. I got an MA from UCLA and taught foreign languages and English at the secondary level for more than a decade, but always my muse beckoned me. Stacks of spiral notebooks-turned-journals covered my closet floor. About the time I turned the big 5-0, I resigned my teaching position and carved out more time for writing. Currently I'm looking at my large extended family and my frenetically busy life through the lens of the personal essay. I've recently received two Kay Snow nonfiction awards and a Writer's Digest nonfiction award, and completed a novel. The world looks good right now.