About Maureen C. Berry
Artist, risk-taker, cancer warrior, creating joy through watercolors and writing, breathing blue in a sea of red. Kentucky. maureencberry.com
Who am I?
I’m a young 63-year-old artist, risk-taker, cancer-survivor, who creates joy through watercolor art and writing. Many people know me from my cookbook Salmon from Market to Plate and its companion podcast and speaking/cooking program Green Fish Blue Oceans. Additionally, I’m known for my two recent art exhibitions: Wild African Adventures in Art and GIRL ON FIRE🔥 watercolor series. I also manage a small trucking agency with my husband, which, as anyone knows, “small” business means we do everything, and working with a spouse under the same roof is also a full-time job. But, hey, we manage.
Other things you might like to know. Sometimes, I cuss. No sugar-coating that one. Also, there will be typos. I use a software editor, but we all know how that goes sometimes. Suppose you listen to my letters instead of reading. In that case, I drop consonants (not purposefully), and you may even detect my Pittsburghese dialect, or my British accent that I honed for stage theater.
I started writing late in life, around 2010. First a food blog, then essays in small magazines. I enrolled in a two-year Memoir-writing certificate curriculum at Gotham Writers and began writing a food memoir, now in its fourth iteration.
Like me, the memoir has evolved. While food is an essential theme in my book, it is no longer the driving force if it ever was. My memoir in progress includes themes such as how cancer was the catalyst for the incredible changes in my life as a creative badass, how, as a cookbook author, I couldn’t eat anymore, body dysmorphia, middle age/menopause, marital stressors, and how our bodies hold trauma.
I’m on Substack to become the writer I’ve always wanted to be and connect and learn from other writers. I write pARTake, a newsletter about creative badassery. If you’re into what a messy and imperfect creative lifestyle looks like while working to pay the mortgage, manage ongoing medical debt, and battle an insidious disease, pARTake on Substack is the place for you. I work to inspire you and hope to help you lead with your heart in your work.
pARTake \ pär-ˈtāk \ (verb) to take part in or experience something along with others
At the end of each issue of pARTake, I share a photo of Cooper, my wire fox terrier. You can also find pictures and shenanigans of Cooper prominent in Notes. Cooper rescued me in mid-2018 after Reagan, our previous wire fox, died suddenly. Incidentally and ironically, around the same time, I began to feel ill. In early 2019, I was diagnosed with stage 4 dedifferentiated liposarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer of the fatty cells in my abdomen.
You can contact me, check out my art, and learn more about what I’ve been up to for the last few years by visiting my website, maureencberry.com, or connecting on Notes.
I look forward to meeting you. Please join me.
Maureen xo
Stay curious. Stay safe. Make an impact.
