Even as a young child, Diane Cameron knew that newspapers and the written word were important.
“My parents subscribed to three different papers every day. As a 4-year-old, I created my own newspaper in fake cursive and handed it out to my family. As I got older, my mother would read something that meant a lot to her and often cut out the column for me to read at the breakfast table. I got the message early on that reading was important.”
One of her joys is authoring a monthly column in the Times Union.
Cameron finds joy in writing but admits it can be terrifying. “Like many authors I like having written, but there are often those few days before my column is due when I’m still struggling with what to say or I have a topic but I’m not sure what to do with it. It’s wonderful though when something will click, and I can see an ending to the column. Writing is a bit like doing a complex jigsaw puzzle,” she said. “My family was not super educated, but they were readers. My father was a Polish immigrant who would buy one encyclopedia at a time on a payment plan. He knew that was important.”
Cameron, who is chief development and communications officer at Catholic Charities Diocese of Albany, finds that work is a valuable way to supply her writing ideas. “I need a water cooler in my life, some chitchat and co-workers. Conversation can get my creativity flowing, and the key to my writing is when I can look deeply into who I am and what I’m feeling. Not everyone can do that or wants to do that, but I know when I go deep inside that’s when I always find my truth and that leads to my best writing.”
She has published three books: “Looking for Signs” (2012), a collection of her essays and columns; “Out of the Woods: A Woman’s Guide to Long-Term Recovery” (2014); and “Never Leave Your Dead: A True Story of War Trauma, Murder, and…
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