Welcome to RE Hamon, my writing site. After spending many years in the mental health field, working as a therapist, supervisor, manager and trainer, I am now devoting myself to writing on a full-time basis. Although I am still in part-time private practice, I have finished an MFA in Creative Writing at the Bluegrass Writer's Studio through Eastern Kentucky University, which kept me busy reading, writing, critiquing and studying for three solid years. A great experience, that's all I can say.
What do I write? Short stories, flash fiction, non-fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry. Plus, I am working on my first novel. I love to write children's stories, and I am always writing and polishing several picture book manuscripts. I have always wanted to be a writer, and have written whenever I found time, but now writing is my number one priority.
My original short story, "Big Shot", was published in the November 2020 issue of Voices de la Luna, the literary magazine of South Texas. It is a man vs. nature story, where an angry adolescent and a red-winged blackbird protecting his nest match wits.
My latest short story, "Messengers from the Past", appeared in the 24th Volume (May of 2021) of Steam Ticket, a University of Wisconsin literary magazine. It is a story about relationships, love and forgiveness.
In years past, I published articles in magazines, such as, Dog Fancy and Glass Digest, along with dozens of articles on mental health subjects in online journals.
One of my favorite genres is nature writing. I love the natural world and spend as much time in nature as possible. Some of my preferred natural playgrounds are the Red River Gorge area of Kentucky and the Allegheny Mountains, particularly the Snowshoe, West Virginia area. I have spent time exploring nature in the Adirondacks, the Poconos, the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I am working on a number of stories, poems and nonfiction reflections on nature inspired by these wonderful areas, including a Creative Nonfiction book on nature.
I have several writing projects going at the same time. My main thrust in my MFA program was writing short stories, and I wrote a collection of short stories for my master's thesis. I am revising and polishing those stories to serve as the basis for my first collection. I hope to begin searching for a suitable publisher by this winter.
Also, I am working on a Creative Nonfiction book about my experiences in nature over the course of a year when I sought out nature for healing, stress reduction, and inspiration some years ago.
And I wrote a group of prose poems for a poetry class I took this summer, and now I am revising and preparing those poems to send off to literary magazines.
In addition, I am working on a few picture book manuscripts for submission. Needless to say, I am quite busy, but I love what I do so it is a real pleasure to spend my time this way!
For many years, I have been writing articles that have been published on the Internet, in addition to writing all the pages and articles on my established mental health site, www.happy-relationships.com. I've covered topics ranging from creativity and peak performance to leading people and making organizations successful, in addition to numerous articles on depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. I've written numerous self-help articles, such as the art of improving relationships, building a great marriage, and defeating loneliness.
I have authored eBooks on self-help topics, such as solving relationship problems and creating true happiness. My most recent project was to write an email course about overcoming loneliness and building a satisfying social life. You can access all of these writings and self-help products at my therapy site, happy-relationships.com.