Sock Talk: A Christmas Story (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781494320843)

Judy Dykstra-Brown has been writing rhymed humorous tales since the age of 5, when her mother would avail herself of her talents as an accomplice in penning fun poems using the lives of her older sisters as subjects. This talent has served her well in her children's story books, with four more completed and awaiting illustration before they join "Sock Talk" on the shelves. She is also the author of one non-fiction book, "Lessons from a Grief Diary: Reinventing Your Life after the Loss of a Loved One," and a book of verse stories about growing up in South Dakota entitled, "Prairie Moths." Her work may also be found in "Agave Marias" and numerous online and print magazines and newspapers. She is presently working on a novel set in Mexico. You may read her blog at grieflessons.wordpress.com. She earned her B.A. and M.Ed. with a dual major of educational curriculum and creative writing at the University of Wyoming. She went on to teach English in Australia and Ethiopia for three years, interspersed with travel. Upon her return to the U.S., she taught English and writing in Cheyenne Wyoming for 7 years before moving to California to write, study screenwriting and film production and to work in publicity and public relations for a TV production company. While living in L.A. she studied poetry in the Jack Grapes Poetry Workshop, going on to co-edit a poetry journal, "The Sculpture Garden Review." In 1987, she married her husband Bob Brown, a poet and artist, and for the next 14 years made her living as a silversmith and papermaker, also collaborating with her husband in making art lamps which they sold in arts and crafts shows nationwide. She was curator of The Santa Cruz Mountains Art Center and also continued to write poetry and short stories, participating in poetry readings in several venues in the San Lorenzo Valley. In 2001, upon the death of her husband, she moved to Lake Chapala, Mexico, where she has resided ever since. She presently coordinates a reading series "The Squeaky Wheels Readings" at La Rueda, (The Wheel) Isidro Xilonzchitl's Galeria and Coffee House. She is active in the art world, showing her mixed media retablos and sculptures in several galleries and has written for several print and online magazines and newspapers. She was first prize winner in the Tennessee Writers' Guild's annual poetry competition and participates in several Lake Chapala writers' groups.