Debbie is the author of the award-winning memoir Available As Is: A Midlife Widow’s Search for Love about creating a new life after losing her husband and high school sweetheart of 32 years. Kirkus Reviews calls her, “A dryly amusing writer who tells it like it is.”

Available As Is is the gold medalist in the 2024 Independent Publisher Book Awards in Aging, Death and Dying. It is the bronze medalist in the 2023 Reader’s Favorite Awards in Nonfiction-Grief/Hardship. It has blurbs from best-selling authors including Jacquelyn Mitchard and Ann Garvin.

Debbie’s writing has been published in The New York Times’ “Modern Love” column, Huffington Post, Woman’s Day and Reader’s Digest among other publications. A former lawyer, she earned her MFA in Creative Writing in 2020 at age 56.

Debbie can speak to:

-Creating a new life and finding hope after widowhood.
-Reframing your life story by finding your voice.
-Incorporating back story into your main narrative.
-Handling tragedy and humor in the same work.
-Infusing your work with deeper themes.
-Dating at midlife, including way too many bad date stories.

She has been featured on over 30 podcasts including: