About me
What a journey it's been!
After a long career in marketing it’s time to pursue my passion: writing.
In 2018, my husband and I sold our home in San Diego, packed up our lives, and drove cross-country to Western North Carolina. After a 37-year career in marketing—24 of those years in business on my own—I was ready to semi-retire and spend my time writing, hiking, and doing volunteer pet therapy with my two Golden Retrievers, Hope and Faith.
I spent the next few years settling into our new home, exploring the mountains, teaching online, and writing when I found the time and motivation.
In 2021, I decided I wanted to write a memoir. And then life got in the way. My parents’ health began to decline and our daughter gave birth to our first grandchild. I spent much of 2022 traveling to spend time with dad, mom, and our new grandson.
In June 2022, dad passed away. After returning home from his funeral I felt a renewed motivation to write. I enrolled in a memoir writing course, shut down my online course business (although my courses are still available on Udemy) and dove into my new career as a writer.
My intention is to share the journey of learning to write memoir, along with everything it brings up, which I’m finding is a lot!
I invite you to follow my memoir writing journey on my blog. You may also read my published stories on Medium.com
In the past my writing style has fallen somewhere in between journalism and journaling. Writing memoir is about telling a story.
Debbie LaChusa
Fun Facts
A few things you may not know about me…
- I’m a fraternal twin
- I married my high school sweetheart and we’re still together!
- I became a grandma in 2022
- I used to run marathons
- I started my career working in advertising agencies
- I’ve been a pet therapy volunteer since 2014
- My spin bike leaderboard name is Sugar Face
- I’m learning how to play piano
- I left my home city after 56 years and moved across the country
- Becoming a writer is my fifth career