Barbara L SellersBarbara Sellers was the sixth born in a family of 14 children. She grew up on a large farm in Minnesota.Barbara decided to become a writer when she was nine years old. At large family gatherings, her grandmother got everyone's attention and read humoous parts of Barbara's letters aloud. Everyone laughed and applauded, so she continued writing. When Barbara wrote to a Japanese pen pal, she unwittingly developed stronger writing skills. Knowing her pen pal had to interpret her letters into a foreign language forced her to pay attention to correct spelling and better sentence structure.After graduating from high school, Barbara worked as a secretary in St. Paul, Minnesota, for a few years before moving to Tacoma, Washington, to escape cold weather.There she met her first husband, the late Franklin Harvey, who was a sonar technician in the U.S. Navy. After living in several naval ports throughout the United States, Barbara earned a bachelor's degree in English-writing (journalism) in May 1982 from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, where she now resides.Barbara retired in May 2009 from the Department of Defense, where she worked for an Army newspaper, the Northwest Guardian, as a reporter, editor, and photojournalist in the public affairs office. While there, she wrote more than 4,000 stories and won 32 individual and staff journalism awards, including the coveted Thomas Jefferson Award twice, for best newspaper out of more than 6,000 in all four branches of the military.Barbara is a 30-year member of Toastmasters International and has won many humorous speech contests. After retirement, she did some stand-up comedy at open mikes and has two CDs of original true stories, True Confessions and Back on the Farm. Barbara is also a special guest on the CD Panic to Power, with three world champion speakers from Toastmasters. Get Tough or Die is Barbara's first book.Barbara has two adult sons, Shawn and Ryan, and one granddaughter, Crystal. She lives in Tacoma, Washington. Read More Read Less