About Judith
Judith Ford has always been a writer. In fifth grade, she wrote a series of short stories about her magical pet rabbit, Dynamite. Although the stories were well received by her teacher, her parents and her classmates, she didn’t picture herself growing up to be an author. She continued to write—mediocre poetry in high school, better poetry and many emotional journal entries in college. Early in her adult life she realized that writing (or acting, her other passion) was unlikely to provide a living income. So she chose psychotherapy, established a private practice, and specialized in the treatment of eating disorders.
Despite her busy career and growing family, Judith never stopped writing. In her 40’s she started working with a writing coach under whose guidance she wrote her first publishable short stories, essays, and better poems. She also completed most of a memoir. Many of these early works—as well as current ones—have found homes in literary magazines. Her work has been nominated three times for Pushcart Prizes, in poetry, in fiction, and in nonfiction. Judith learned how to sit still and write deep by spending many valuable weeks in silence with the writing and meditation teacher Natalie Goldberg. She also studied poetry with the poet Martin Jack Rosenblum. She and Mr. Rosenblum published a collection of their poetry called Burning Oak.
Judith retired from her long psychotherapy career in 2010 and earned an MFA in writing at the Vermont College of Fine Arts at the age of 68. In 2017, after having lived her whole life a half mile from the Lake Michigan shore, Judith moved with her husband Chris and their barky terrier and very chill shihtzu/westie pup to Santa Fe, New Mexico, land of sunshine and lots of people their age. They live in the foothills of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains where Judith hikes daily in the company of chamiso bushes, cholla cactus, road runners, magpies and sweet little lizards.
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