While teaching some of world’s great books to high school students in Mississippi and Tennessee, Ms. McKinney decided to try her hand at writing about some of the characters she had nurtured in her imagination. She enrolled in creative writing and began her first novel. These days, she continues writing; substitute teaches; teaches four-year-old Sunday School; helps coach the local high school tennis team; "reads ’til her eyes bleed;" revels in her circle of friends; recently bid farewell to Babycakes, her cat of almost 24 years; and most of all spends as much time as possible with her family.