Costa Jill's Life in the Southern Zone

I met Charles Schelle and was introduced to Sarasota Patch through a weird and creepy postcard that came to me in the mail right before the election.  and broke the story which then headlined on election night on ABC Channel 7 News. Charles has asked me to start a blog here, so here's an introduction. 

Though born in California, and living in France as a child, my formative years were spent in Sarasota on Florida's Gulf Coast. After college at the University of Florida, marriage, two children—one deaf—she started teaching, helped run two businesses and after 30 years and got divorced.

What a turn life took! Now living in two countries, Sarasota, and Costa Rica, I forgot my French, but learned Spanish. Living alone took many adjustments, eventually I became a self-sufficient, adventuresome individual, traveling the world, volunteering with many organizations, climbing mountains, surfing the seas and teaching ESL in Costa Rica and Florida.

After many years working and bringing up a family I finally became a published writer with a book of connected short stories Free to Bloom about life in Costa Rica and the United States, hopefully the first of many.

Although I wrote stories and essays for small magazines, my next big project is auto-biographical: Life and Deaf — the trials, tribulations, joys and sorrows of living with and educating a deaf child who after the fact designed and now runs a successful website www.gatorcountry.com, one of the top University of Florida Gator football websites.

Visit my personal blog at http://www.costajill.com and my Free to Bloom blog at http://freetobloombook.com

My books can be bought at Circle Books on St Armands, Bookstore1Sarasota on Main St. and on Amazon.com in softcover or ebook formats.