Martine Robinson Beachboard* has loved words from the time she first learned to use them. This occurred when, at the age of 2, she spent a week with her older brother in the hot, sticky backseat of a green Ford sedan as her parents drove the family from Washington, D.C. to Phoenix. She studied words enough to win a citywide spelling bee in seventh grade.
Next thing you know, she’s a newspaper editor in southeast Arizona. Her weekly column develops a loyal following, evoking a range of reader responses and emotions, and it begins to earn professional recognition. When she moves to Europe she continues writing.
Early in her journalism career, she learns that everyone has a story. Before long, she realizes that everyone is a story.
* Yes, that’s my real name! Do you think anyone would invent a moniker like that?