Judith Ford: ES Review

Judith Ford wrote a series of short stories (about her magical rabbit, Dynamite) in fifth grade. Although the stories were well received by her teacher, her parents and some of her friends, she was not yet committed to writing as a career. She went on to write mediocre poetry in high school, better poetry and many emotional journal entries in college. She loved to write, but instead of seeking a career in literature or creative writing (she kept writing as a hobby and a psychological life raft) she became a psychotherapist and established a private practice specializing in the treatment of eating disorders. She learned a great deal from her clients and coworkers and much of what she learned has filtered into her writing.

She never stopped writing in spite of a very busy career and a growing family. In her 40’s she started working with a writing coach under whose guidance she wrote her first publishable short stories, essays, and better poems. Many of these early works—as well as current ones—have found homes in literary magazines. Several of her essays were published online on RedRavine.com, LifeAfterHate.com, and other online journals. Ms. Ford has been nominated twice for Pushcart Prizes, once in poetry and once in fiction.

Judith learned how to sit still and write deep by spending many valuable weeks in silence with the writing and meditation teacher Natalie Goldberg. She also studied poetry with the poet Martin Jack Rosenblum. She and Mr. Rosenblum published a collection of their poems called Burning Oak.

Judith recently completed her memoir, Fever of Unknown Origin

Judith married her second husband, Chris, in 1988 and together they raised three children and more than a few dogs. She retired from her long psychotherapy career in 2010 and went back to school at Vermont College of Fine Arts, earning her MFA in writing in 2016 at the age of 68. In 2017, after having lived her whole life half a mile from the Lake Michigan shore, Judith moved with her husband (and a neurotic beagle and very chill Shih Tzu/Westie pup) to Santa Fe, NM, land of sunshine and lots of people their age. Their lovely adobe house is in the canyon below the foothills of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains where Judith hikes daily in the company of chamiso bushes, cholla cactus, road runners, magpies and sweet little lizards.