Monica Zenberg

I have always had a passion for writing. When I was a kid, I had to write the best story using the spelling words and I had to make everyone laugh. Ever since, writing has been a huge part of my life. For me, writing is my passion, my mission, my distraction, my addiction, and my physician.

I am currently editing my novel, I'll Fly Away, and preparing to send it to publishers and agents in attempt to get it published. It is a Christian novel set in the late seventies in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

Not everything I write is geared toward a Christian audience though. For example, the short story I entered in the Gather Short Fiction contest, a href=" http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976718831"<Wedding Day</a> is a really odd story based on some very weird dreams I have had. Actually, all but one of the dreams are real. I tell which dream is fake in one of the comments after the story. The story did not make it into the top 20, unfortunately, but I still feel it is a really great story that I may try to get published.

I also love to cook and enjoy writing recipes for recipe contests. I decided to post them here in a creative format. I have a recipe series called Southern Love in Your Tummy: Recipes From a Good Ol' Southern Girl. If you love soft, moist, chewy cookies, you have to read href=" http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976719656 "<Super Scrumpscious Peanut Butter Chip Cookies</a>. You will not only get the best peanut butter cookie you ever tasted, but you will also get a secret tip to making ANY cookie recipe turn out soft, moist, chewy cookies.

These recipes are also in my group href="http://www.gather.com/viewGroup.jsp?grpId=3659174697239116"<Southern Life</a>. I created this group because so much of my writing reflects my southern background. Whether it is a recipe or a great fiction story, with characters that have that southern drawl, or articles on great southern history, it can all be found in this group. Written by me and others like me!

My passion for crocheting has been combined with a loss in our family to create a mission. My sister, Pam freeth (a Gather member too - pdfreeth.gather.com) lost her daughter Olivia to Zellweger Syndrome at age 4 1/2 mos on December 20, 2004. Her mission, because of Olivia, is to reach out to other families with ZS babies, as well as pre-mature and other terminally ill infants. She created the Zellweger Baby Support Network (zbsn.gather.com on Gather) to support the families, and together we created Hugs and Kisses Crafters - a sub group to donate handmade items to both the ZS families and to hospitals for pre-mature and termnally ill infants. If you are interested in participating, contact me and keep checking the ZBSN group on Gather for more info. I have written several of my own patterns which you can find at <a href=" http://crochetbymonica.gather.com/"> Crochet by Monica Zenberg</a>.