I have always enjoyed reading, and I’m a reader by profession. I began my career as a community college instructor – an eight-year experience that prepared me for the research, organization, editing, and mentoring activities required of a writer and editor. For over 25 years I have worked as a professional technical communicator, first as a software writer in the utility, process control, and biotechnology industries, and then as a biomedical editor.

Along the way I migrated from one side of the country to the other and back. I began my career in North Carolina, then migrated to New Mexico. After 20 years as a New Mexican I returned east to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to be near my parents, and after nine years here I consider myself a committed Chattanoogan.

Reading and writing have been constants in my life, but I do have other interests. Gardening is one of them; I include a picture of a trumpet tree in my blog to attest to my ability to grow beautiful things. I planted and killed many versions of that tree before I finally coaxed one of them to flower. One thing I have learned over my life is that persistence eventually yields success!

I’m also an avid tennis player (notice I’m not calling myself accomplished, just avid) and a member of a community band. I like art. One summer I took a temporary job as manager of Chattanooga’s Houston Museum of Decorative Arts, and I became really taken with the vast collection of Victorian art glass on display there.

You can follow my experiences as a gardener and Chattanoogan on Facebook, and you can learn more about my professional life at www.linkedin.com/in/dorothymcduffie. Feel free to comment on my posts as I explore what I have learned about reading from my mom, my dad, and colleagues in my profession.