Beverly Finney says a chance meeting set her on a writer's path, and a chance reading turned her to poetry. Her love of words, though, has been there from the beginning—fed by family gatherings, the “Sparky” children's radio program, teachers, and school libraries. Beverly's family didn't own a television until she was in high school, leaving much of her youth open to imagination, roaming her grandparents' farms, and reading.  Now retired, she once again has time to enjoy those same things (except roaming the farms, which were broken up and sold off over the years). Instead, these days, Beverly roams everyday places in her hometown of Hickory, North Carolina, listening for stories and “bearing witness”, she says, to the human experience at the heart of her writing.