Nilah Rodgers Turner’s maiden name is Nilah Blackwell, she attended first grade through graduation in Littlefield, Texas.
Her first news writing job was for the then daily Levell...vizualizați mai multeNilah Rodgers Turner’s maiden name is Nilah Blackwell, she attended first grade through graduation in Littlefield, Texas.
Her first news writing job was for the then daily Levelland Sun News. After the paper sold she wrote hard news and feature stories for the Lamb County Leader News in Littlefield and feature stories for the Lubbock Avalanche Journal.
She sold the first magazine article she wrote to a magazine and this article was included in a hard bound anthology of the best agricultural essays and poems published over 200 years by Progressive Farmer. Her story was included among many notables like Thomas Carlyle and George Washington.
With this transfusion of printer’s ink, she joined a writers group and started attending writers conferences and adding to college hours.
A Readers Digest subscriber, she read about a helicopter crash on the Pedernales River in Texas. The Readers Digest always included a short note saying they paid $2,500 for Dramas in Real Life. She drove to the area, wrote the article and mailed it. A few days later she got an acceptance.
She didn’t know it then, but this was the heyday of freelancing. She wrote and got acceptances from Readers Digest, Good Housekeeping, and Ladies Home Journal. Her writing won first place first from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Distinguished Service Award from Special Olympics and top honors from the National Kidney Foundation.
When her editor at Readers Digest phoned to tell her she was one of only two to sell Readers Digest ten full length stories in one year, the editor added: “and the other writer had a nervous breakdown.” Instead of rejoicing, she wondered if she faced a breakdown if she didn’t slow down.
The next Digest included the other winner’s story.
The freelance era ended after homes quit selling, and the stock market crashed. Magazines cut employees, and those who weren’t cut, wrote for the magazines.
Seeing the end of freelancing, she got her brokers real estate license and opened her real estate office.
Later, she bought and sold antiques, and this lead to decorating. She joined a garden club and the Native Plant Society and got her master gardener designation. When she decided not to renew her real estate license, she knew some day she would write novels. "Home to Hidden Springs" is the first. "Tending the Enemy" is available for Preorder and will be released 8-14-2018vizualizați mai puține