Sharon’s second book Gemstone and Dimes is a compendium of several writing genres. She includes humorous stories, other fiction, and thoughtful, serious essays varying in length from short one-pagers to several pages. Her stories derive from her life experiences and topics that she considers worthy of discussion or may provide a few laughs. The stories in Sharon’s first book, Echoes of Your Choices, mark her journey through the turbulence and vicissitudes of ordinary life. Compassion and forgiveness of self and others are themes underlying this journey. She demonstrates that life must be fun as well as serious and spiritual as well as practical. Her lessons view the world and the people who inhabit it through a wide-angle lens. The author has been a reporter and feature writer for several newspapers and magazines in both Wisconsin and Virginia. Presently living and working in Virginia, Sharon is a member of local and regional writers’ groups, a frequent participant in the Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop and a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. She recently received the Rick Baily Humor Award at the annual Chesapeake Bay Writers luncheon and author recognition event in Williamsburg, Virginia.