Press Kit

Biographies
Five Fun Facts
Questions and Answers
Contact Information

BIOGRAPHIES

50 Word Biography

Nestled within the wooded Cascade foothills, Betsy celebrates her Sleeping Beauty life with her Prince Charming and crabby parrot. Inspired by the surrounding beauty, she spins true tales about life and spiritual poetry. Writer, photographer, artist, humorist, child of God, Betsy photographs and writes on topics close to her heart. 50

150 Word Biography

Richly blessed with a loving husband, a strong faith, talented friends, and the beauty of her natural surrounding in the Cascade foothills, Betsy is grateful for these blessings guiding her. Writing across numerous genres, she is currently under the spell of her creative non-fiction short stories and spiritual poetry, weaving these tales of love, laughter, and life into her upcoming charming book, Whispers of Memories. 65

Quite the storyteller, Betsy's other writing passion, The Return of Lady Ethereal, her bi-monthly newsletter, is another of her beautifully inspired creations. It transports one into another realm through its ethereal photography, beautiful artwork, and engaging prose. 102

Her latest projects have focused on her stunning nature-themed photography, her Blessings for Betsy line of greeting cards, plus her upcoming inspiring photography book. 127

Over time, with many columns and newsletters under her belt, her articles and short stories have appeared in print both locally and nationwide. 150

500 Word Biography

Nose in a book since she could read, Betsy hoped one day to become a writer. But wishes and hopes when one is a slow-poke sometimes take decades to bloom. There were universities to attend, mini-careers in assorted fields: dance, health care, horticulture, and education; community problems to solve, hands to hold, and many people to love and grow. So when one follows one's heart, as she was wont to do, her attention first spread to those in need, those whose hearts were saddened, those who needed love, and any who needed a pillar to lean upon. 99

Back in the Northwest after a decade spent in both California and Nevada, she moved with her family to the edge of civilization in the Cascades. Surrounded by snowy mountains, bear and wolves roamed their Christmas tree farm at night, while children ran freely during the day. It was a flourishing time of giving, loving, and family, discovering the simple but important things through their country life. 160
A move down to the Cascade foothills changed the trajectory of her journey. This season turned to one of intense study as Betsy taught her young son at home for nine years, additionally burying her own nose in religious tomes. Turning toward a life of service, she was blessed to help meet the needs of those in the ministries in which she served and led. 225

Then one day, a notice appeared in the paper about a Scandinavian group forming. Reminding her of her beloved Aunt's Swedish baking, she enthusiastically joined. Surprising her, it took her down an unexpected path. Asked to write their newsletter, then pen a column for their national newspaper, she began developing her creative writing skills, which catapulted her into a new career. Now the texts she studied were on the craft of writing. 297

She began penning and publishing creative non-fiction short stories, poetry, articles, newsletters, and assorted columns, many running on-line, others appearing in print both locally and nationally. Moving forward, she produced her work of love, her writer's quarterly, The Chronicles of Lady Ethereal. Full of faeries, beautiful photography, fanciful artwork and delightful stories, it enchanted her readers with its whimsical nature. This was later replaced with a more stream-lined, but equally delightful version of her current bi-monthly literary newsletter, The Return of Lady Ethereal. 367

Founding Northwest Women Writers in 2009, a hugely successful regional writer's organization spanning five counties, she ran the business for the next four years, orchestrating the production of their book, while providing social, professional and educational opportunities for its 115 members. 408

With this experience under her belt, she gathered her many stories and poems, seamlessly weaving them together, creating her charming memoir, Whispers of Memories. Heartfelt and humorous, it spans the seasons of her life as she blossoms from clueless young maiden dancing through the hills of California, to fully mature spiritual woman of God. 462

Betsy's recent endeavors have focused around her professional photography, creating a line of stunning nature-themed greeting cards, Blessings from Betsy. She is currently producing a new photographic gift book due out this summer. Contact Betsy @ www.betsydiedrick.com. 500

FIVE FUN FACTS

I adore watching jousting tournaments! I love the clashing of the sword fighting, the pounding of the horse’s hooves as they tear down the field, the sparkling armor and mail, the chivalry of the knights. It’s all spine tingling! And so much fun! We are fortunate to have a first class indoor arena nearby and a group of organized knights that come up from Seattle to joust.

2. One December day I was sitting on the frozen ground on our farm, sawing off a Christmas tree for a customer. As the icicles on the tips of the branches began melting, they dripped onto my nose. As I burst out laughing, our customer asked, “What’s so funny?” Wet and frozen I replied, “I never envisioned this in my future when I was taking all those 400 level political science classes at UNR."

3. If I had the possibility of doing anything I wanted, I would train dolphins. We went to the Dolphin Research Institute and the Sea Turtle Rescue Hospital in the Florida Keys. I never wanted to leave. Then we toured the Jacksonville Zoo where I spent an hour petting the backs of sting rays as they swam past. Yes, petting! Thanks to watching Jacques Cousteau specials when I was a teenager, I have always wanted to become a marine biologist.

4. I am a Twelve. That only makes sense if you live in the Pacific Northwest. But I am a big Seattle football fan. Go Hawks! I was Coach Pete Carroll's home armchair assistant coach till they let him go. Then they broke my heart.

5. My mother was the Pacific Northwest Sales Manager for Columbia Records. We grew up listening to thousands of demo albums, so I have a very eclectic taste in music. All the artists would stop at her office when they toured in Seattle, and she would bring home autographs and other memorabilia. But the crown jewel was when she scored front row Beatle tickets. My claim to fame is that I’ve seen the Beatles twice!

QUESTIONS and ANSWERS

On writing

1. Q. If writing is your passion, why did you wait so long to get started in the field you love?
A. When I was younger I was told I needed more life experience before I became a writer. Check. I have plenty of that now. But I had other passions I wanted to explore, the first one being dance. Training at SFSU, I took five hours of classes daily: jazz, African, ballet, modern, and folk.

I also wanted to have a family, and after marrying, ended up raising scads of kids: ours, my husbands, and for a great length of time, my sisters. It wasn’t until they were settled in life that I heard the call again to focus on becoming a writer.

Deciding I would write children's books, and not knowing anything about the field, I thought I needed to become an illustrator first, so started taking art classes. Inspired by Norwegian art, I began rosemaling classes. After joining the Daughter's of Norway to pursue these old country crafts and artforms, my lodge asked me to write their newsletter, then pen a column for their national newspaper. This was the impetus that launched me into my professional writing career.

On my photography

2. Q. What kind of camera do you use?

A. I've always used a nothing little camera. I never wanted anything fancy where you had to change the lenses or stop and make adjustments, since the shot I am aiming for is frequently not going to wait for me to set up. Currently, I have a bottom-of-the-line little Nikon that works beautifully.

3. Q. Then what makes your photos so unique?

A. I have what they call "a very good eye." The ability to spot and frame a scene. My artistic background helps when I tweak a photo. One of my favorites was when I stripped the color out of a sunny day at the conservatory, giving it the feeling of a moody moonlit night.

On my ministry work

4. Q. The middle of your life was a time of study and growth, when your life turned toward service. Tell me about the volunteer work and ministries in which you participated.

A. After I was married and lived in Reno, while attending the University, I was inspired to take a quarter of training to become a counselor on the Suicide Crisis Line. Volunteering weekly on the Crisis Line was pretty intense, but incredibly fulfilling.

Then we moved to Washington State, where I became a volunteer Crisis Pregnancy Counselor. Because of my experience, my church asked me to become the Samaritan Ministry Coordinator, a Board position that coordinated providing hot meals, arrangements, and comfort for people experiencing times of crisis or post-surgical support.

Next, I joined Women's Ministry, a church group tending to the spiritual needs of women. This prepared me to start my own ministry, Lovely Lincoln Ladies, a group of high school peers who prayed for and met the needs of former classmates from our very large Seattle high school class.

5. Q. What did you learn from these experiences?

A. Training for the crisis line was excellent preparation for all of my ministry work, and all of life, really. It taught me how to be a great listener, to suss out people's feelings by sensing their emotions rather than listening to the words coming out of their mouth. It showed me how to make people feel like they were really heard, which is critical. I also came to understand the importance of truly caring about others, how that can literally make a life and death difference. Most importantly, it taught me the value of hope.

When one becomes that aware, it helps to discern how to follow your instincts, to listen to the little voice within that clues you to where your attention needs to be focused, and what is happening beyond the obvious.

A life focused on service is not easy, but the personal benefits of helping others can be extremely fulfilling as well as growth inducing.

On our country life

6. Q. You lived on a Christmas tree farm on the edge of civilization? What was that like?
A. It was a treat for us to escape the city to live in the country. The air was so fresh and we loved the natural rhythms. There was one house past our property, then just forested mountains. We had this incredible 360 degree mountain view, a creek running along the back of our property, a huge vegetable garden, my quarter acre dahlia garden, and five hundred beautiful Noble, Grand Fir, and Frasier Christmas trees.

The windows along the front of our house overlooked North Mountain, which rose straight up about 200 yards beyond our yard, while the rear windows and our bedroom slider overlooked our Christmas trees, with a beautiful view of White Horse Mountain and its waterfalls and avalanches. It felt like we were living in Switzerland. Sitting on our bed one day, my husband said, "I'm never going camping again. We're living it!"

We discovered we were really country at heart, so I didn't mind being away from people, or that the paper came a day late, or sometimes the main roads were cut off when the river flooded. And even though we watched wolves and bears ramble through our property, I felt safe.

We thrived as a tight knit family in our little valley surrounded by the nearby creeks and rivers, nurtured by the simplicity of living a back-to-nature style country life.

On becoming who I am?

7. Q. Who has been your inspiration?
A. Writing wise, I love Fannie Flagg. "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe" is my all-time favorite book, and I developed a writing style similar to it. I have always been impressed by the beautiful prose of Somerset Maugham and poetry of Kahlil Gibran.

On a personal level, when I was a kid I read a lot, especially biographies. I was particularly impressed with Eleanor Roosevelt, who inspired me to want to make a difference in the lives of others. My other heroes included Bobby and President John F. Kennedy, Mother Theresa, Thomas Jefferson, Gandhi, and the Dali Lama.

My wonderful Aunty June, who was like my second mother, taught me by example about laughter, fun, generosity, and love. And my husband, Mike, who has been at my side for over forty-four years, has helped refine me. We basically grew up and matured together, balancing out each other. He has been the steady positive force when the gales were blowing, my personal comedian when it has been smooth sailing. He has been my rock.

8. Q. If you had any advice for people, what would it be?
A. To follow your heart, that is where happiness lies. And know that God is real, not just an abstract.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Betsy Diedrick

betsydiedrick@gmail.com

www.betsydiedrick.com