Look and Listen

Biography

Canadian writer Betty Dobson believes that there are no absolute blacks and whites in this world. She's always on the lookout for various shades of grey-–and any other colours of the rainbow lingering around the horizon. Life has its quirks; whenever she can explore them, question them, and write about them, she will. Give her a mystery, and she's like a pit bull as she explores passageways and labyrinths in her search for resolution. Detours are to be explored, and getting there (and writing about it) is half the fun. Betty has always been caught up with words. As a child, she started reading before she could read--listening intently as parents and older siblings read to her at bedtime. She evolved into a true reader, inevitably described as the always-with-her-nose-in-a-book person. With each new story, she dreamed of trading places with the author and sharing her own ideas with other readers. With equal parts patience and determination, Betty realized her dream in her late thirties. A first-place win in an essay contest started her off on a string of writing successes that have only grown more frequent in the past few years. Her published works include numerous short stories, poetry, essays, and feature articles. She's won awards for all but the latter, but plans to overcome that deficiency. Today, Betty operates as a part-time freelance writer/editor/publisher under the banner InkSpotter Publishing (formerly InkSpotter Writing & Editing). Easily bored, she tackles a variety of projects for herself and for a global clientele. Need articles for your Web site? She's your gal. Need that manuscript edited before sending it to agents? Give her a call. Lost for words? Leave everything to her. When not writing and editing for others, she publishes two newsletters and runs an annual flash fiction contest. An InkSpotter, by Betty's definition, is someone adept at "finding the right words." Her primary mission is to help others find those words and unlock the stories lurking within each of us. Her secondary mission is to promote the use of Canadian (a.k.a. British) spelling on the Internet.

Inspiration