Let the race begin!

Hey y'all!

I figure if I want to make my dream of being a best-selling author come true, I gotta start somewhere right? So I guess a short introduction is appropriate.

My name is Rosemary and I am originally from Omaha, Nebraska. Contrary to popular belief, not all of the Midwest is farmland. Omaha is a sprawling city on the farthest edge of the state near the Missouri River. So unlike my classmates at my undergrad in the lovely state of Iowa, I did not know the difference between the many kinds of tractors or have ever husked corn outside the grocery store. Most of my friends in college grew up in towns as big as 300 people. Totally blew my mind when I got a chance to visit them.

So after I graduated with a BA in English/Writing, I got a journalism job with the Catholic newspaper in Sioux City (BTW: I am Catholic, which actually was a requirement for the job). This got me to travel around the western part of Iowa to these small towns and see what these "slices of heaven" had to offer. After writing at work then work on my own personal writing at home, I saw I was burning the candle at both ends with a mid-life crisis meltdown to ensue (and I was only 22). So I was going to try and "live the dream" by going to grad school to study the field of writing I was most passionate about- creative writing (not the same as journalism in the words of my high school yearbook teacher). I also decided to pick up travel writing because I love to see new places and meet new people.

I am now in the process of getting my MFA in Pittsburgh, PA (a far way from home). What seems so unreal about this place is that it has all the big city amenities, yet a small town feel with how friendly people are here. What is different for me is the amount of trees here. There are A LOT of trees everywhere you look (again, I've spent most of my life in The Plains where you can see the blue sky kiss the tops of the green cornfields).

As my blog name suggests, not only am I a writer, but I'm also a runner (it seems to be rare for literary peeps to be athletic). I am actually working towards my third marathon, which is next week. I liked running laps in grade school and officially got my running career started when I went out for the high school cross country team. From there, I added track and continued both sports through college. Personally, my favorite race is the steeplechase (Google it if you're curious).

Basically I started this blog from a constant question I get from people--What do you think about while running? If I'm not racing, actually A LOT (most having to deal with my writing)! So this place will be dedicated to the random daily thoughts going through my head and updates on my racing and literature-related endeavours.

Take care and God bless!

Rosemary :)