Heather O’Shea
writes the blog Live Love Leave: It’s What We Do. She has been writing since she could hold a pencil. Her work has appeared in The Sun, the Daily Good, the Notre Dame Review, Blue Mesa Review, Cold Mountain Review, and Vero Beach Magazine. Her work has received awards, including second place (poetry) in The Southwest Writers 2006 Annual Contest and a Judges Special Citation in the Notre Dame Sesquicentennial Year Poetry Contest.
Heather’s day jobs
have included seventeen years teaching English and Economics in an independent high school, as well as two years teaching Freshman English at the University of New Mexico. She also spent ten years managing employees in two large corporations. In 2019, Heather stumbled into her dream job as managing editor then editor in chief of Vero Beach Magazine, a publication committed to being a positive force in the community. In 2022, Heather left that job to work at Indian River Community Foundation, an organization even more committed to being a positive force in the community, where she works today. She demonstrated that she was qualified to do all that illustrious work by completing an executive MBA and a PhD in English.
Heather’s side gigs
have included developing and conducting workshops on using Word and Excel; speaking to leadership teams about self-directed work places and managing change; training employees on accounts receivable; and even preaching a few sermons at her favorite Episcopal church. As a consultant she’s helped businesses unravel complex billing issues and develop simple databases. As a writer and educator she has created curriculum guides, crafted mission statements, developed instruction manuals, and written more words about more things than she can possibly count or remember.
Hi Heather,
Nice to meet you here via ‘Brevity Non Fiction’, see comment. Wonder if there is an Irish connection with your surname. Both my parents came fron Co. Donegal, Ireland.
Margaret
Hi Margaret!
Definitely some Irish in me, but not so close as you. Thanks for coming to check out my blog! Heather
Your writing connects and conveys meaning—thank you for this, particularly in these times. I’m excited about reading more by Heather O’Shea!
All the best from a long ago fellow Bethel Parkite, Julie Fitzgerald Spiker
I thought I recognized your name but it didn’t click without the extra help! : ) it’s great to be in touch!
I just read your guest post in Brevity and I LOVE-LOVE-LOVED it! I left my job (also in education) to write full time in July. I am in my second year of an MFA in Creative Nonfiction, and trying to downsize a three-bedroom house (full of books) and get ahead on my homework, so I can also MOVE . I have an essay in Brevity this month, too! (It’s called “Blood and Whiskey.”) I couldn’t believe all the things we have in common when I read your blog post.
I will be following you to see what happens and wishing you the very best! Happy days ahead!
Hi Sandy,
I read your piece in Brevity and loved it! I’m in a phase of my move where my husband, dog, and I are in our new state, but our things are all still in storage while we wait for our house to be built. Thanks for the good wishes, and good luck with your own journey. I hope we stay in touch!
Hi!! Thank you for the update, I have no doubt that there will be publishers fighting over your first of many novels!!
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Joanne!
Hola! I’ve been reading your website for some time now and finally
got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out
from New Caney Texas! Just wanted to tell you keep up the good work!
Hi New Caney, Texas! I hope that I replied to your message back in 2016. but I’m making changes on my site and it looks like I might have neglected to do that. If so, belated thanks for the encouragement. I’m plugging along, and making changes in my life to bring this work to the center. Thanks for reading then (and, I hope, now!)
I first saw, and stopped in, Albuquerque in the summer of 1971. I said I would like to live here. I never got to, and I feel it is fitting to have found you this morning!
I’m glad to be found! I moved here for a year or two in 1988. A prophetic woman on the plane told me that if I wore out a pair of shoes, I’d never leave.
I feel fairly confident that I answered your comment a long time ago (I hope I told you the story about the woman on the plane who told me that if I wore out a pair of shoes here I would stay forever), but for some reason, that response (if I really made it!) is gone. I’m still feeling my way through this blogging world. I hope you are still out there reading, and thanks!
And I am a woman who needs to read them. Your piece on “A visit from Uncle Don”
was perfectly aimed…targeted dead center my head, heart and soul. Thank you.
You are welcome. Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment!
You, my dear friend, are a treasure!
Interesting…