I look forward to the day that MY memoir will be on my bookshelf.

OK, maybe I shouldn’t sell myself short.

I’ve probably been a writer all of my life, from the first time I wrote a short story about a duck that was published when I was in the 5th grade, to being a reporter and then editor-in-chief of the Beach Beacon at Beach High School in Savannah, Ga. And then being the editor of the Spelman Spotlight in college.  I left college for a career at seven daily newspapers and I have always been an editor at those papers, never a full-time reporter.

Not to mention launching and directing a program at Vanderbilt University in Nashville to teach journalism to non-traditional students.

After retiring from newspapers, I returned to Savannah to lead the journalism and mass communications program at Savannah State University, training the next generation of writers and other communications professionals.

Maybe I have always been a writer, but my job titles have always included the word  “editor” — copy editor, production editor, deputy Washington editor, deputy managing editor, managing editor, senior editor, executive editor.

Now that I have re-retired, I want to write every day. I am writing a memoir. I thought I would be writing about my career, and giving professional and life-skills advice to aspiring journalists and young women who are climbing the corporate ladder. I’ve learned a lot about corporate culture, diversity and inclusion and how to balance home and professional life along the way.

But my writing so far has me thinking about my early years and the circumstances under which I was raised in the 1950s and 1960s in the Jim Crow South. My writing has helped me realize that my professional accomplishments are all the more stunning considering where and how I started in life.

To be called a writer, one has to have readers. I hope you will join me on my journey and I want to hear from many of you.