About the Author
Betsy Hayhow Hemming
From my first (remembered) story about Mergatroid the Vampire in fifth grade, I’ve been writing for my entire life. High school brought AP Literature and an unexpected “A.” College offered a hippie creative writing teacher who I liked enough to take two of her classes. I minored in journalism but was quite shy; the writing had to have been pretty good as I never interviewed a single soul and still got an “A” in the class.
I graduated without a clue of what I really wanted to pursue career-wise so I sought out newspaper reporting jobs as reporting and editing ran in the family. It took some effort, but I landed a general assignment reporting job at the Daily Mining Gazette in Houghton, MI, about as far north as you can go in Michigan. I found myself challenged immensely. I covered city politics, edited a weekly travel guide, wrote a regular column, figured out how to explain complicated tax measures and even received a Michigan Associated Press award for breaking news, when my editor was forced to send me to cover a jetfighter crash because he had a broken leg. I got lost enroute but happened to ask for directions at the very farm where the crash occurred, a lucky break for me, excuse the pun.
I also worked briefly at the Moline Daily Dispatch in Illinois as a reporter covering the school beat, winning two reporting awards there.
Soon, the need for better compensation and the desire to return to Michigan resulted in an entry-level position in General Motors. For 19 years, I worked in Communications then Organizational Development with every assignment incorporating some sort of writing. I wrote press releases, speeches, internal newsletters, biographies, training guides, leadership development materials – the list goes on and on.
Occasionally I would work on some novel idea for a novel.
I left GM and started my own company as a leadership development coach and consultant and the writing pattern continued: newsletters for non-profits, annual reports, more speeches, a blog.
Along the way, a little voice started calling out for a more significant investment of my time in writing. Fortunately, I took note. For many years, I have been writing a column about the Au Sable River for a newsletter published by The Anglers of the Au Sable. Now, it’s in draft book form awaiting illustrations. The novel ideas about a novel have produced a novel, which soon will be published. I enter writing contests. I have actually won a couple of second and third place awards for some of my short stories and creative non-fiction.
My efforts to get serious about my writing came about from several people clearly stating: “You are a writer; you should be writing.” I am glad that I was able to hear that counsel. So my final of four or five careers takes me right back to my earliest school days. Perhaps another story will emerge about dear Mergatroid.
February 2019
Author photograph by Fredrick Olsen