The Author Page of Barbara J. Mitchell

Welcome to my author's page.

I live on a mountaintop in the northeastern United States, Pennsylvania to be exact, where we own 16 acres with two ponds, hayfields, stone walls and a little patch of woods. Our house was built in 1861, which is great for us since my major interest is 19th century American history. I rather like the idea that in the first year of our terrible Civil War, a farmer had enough faith in the future of our country to build a two-story house on this land and settle in with his family. We are only the third family to live here. The second family made some unfortunate changes, and this summer's project is to build a wide, comfortable front porch to replace the tiny one they put on.
 

I was born in Illinois and grew up in Springfield, the state capitol. Very political family. Although I've lived in many states since then, including Maine where I met my husband, I've always been a city person, so this rural area took some adjusting to. However, I've grown to love it and now it would be difficult to drag me away from the peace and quiet, the sunsets, the wildlife, the open spaces, and the good neighbors we have here.

As I said, I'm an historian. Since history isn't the most profitable pursuit, though, I've worked as a medical transcriptionist, a trade I gave up only a couple years ago. My fascination with all things medical happily turned into a sideline of medical writing, made easier by the fact that I'm an expert in medical terminology.

For my first guide I chose headaches because I've written a weekly column about headaches for http://www.Suite101.com since November 1999. When you write about a topic, you learn just how many people in the world are affected by it, and headaches are almost universal so there has been a lot of interest in my articles.

I am also the author of another book called O Fairest Monticello. It's the history of a women's college founded in 1838 in Illinois near St. Louis. It was a pioneer of women's education in this country. As it happens, I attended Monticello Prep School - much later than 1838, although I don't think I care to say when. The book is available at Amazon.com. My articles and essays on history, business, and medical topics have been published in many regional and national magazines and newspapers, and I've also been a newspaper reporter and columnist off and on.

My husband and I are avid hikers and canoeists. We love to travel, and in fact I recently returned from a cross country trip to Arizona by car. I read literally everything I can get my hands on, and one of my upcoming projects will be a mystery novel that has been on my mind for some time now. I'm also working on a book about steamboating on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers in the 19th Century. And of course I'll be writing another self help guide soon. My web site is at montigirl

Guides written by this Author (click title to view more information)

How to Cope with Chronic Headaches