About Me

Street cred: ​In most of the last decade I've worked as a freelance writer of feature stories for small to mid-market daily newspapers, weeklies and regional publications. Before that I worked in communications, media relations and public education roles for a number of government agencies and non-profits. I’ve completed a novel I hope to get published sometime before I’m too old to go on book tours. Which some days feels like now.

Things I write about: My personal interests are too far flung to itemize. I'm especially interested in animals and the workings of the natural world, and sciency things like when and how transformative advances in technology came about in big and small ways.

Where I come from: Although I spent my childhood years within commuting distance of New York City, I still think of Vermont as the place where I grew up, so to speak. I lived there most of my adult life. For family reasons (among them, grandchildren), my husband and I moved to Minnesota not long before the COVID lockdown, a rotten time to get the feel of a new place. Despite dreadfully missing my Vermont life and people, and now that a few more years have passed, I can honestly say there’s a lot to like here.

Who’s that dog? I feel I should mention that the photo of me above was taken one dog life ago. But I thought Rudy’s smiling face would look good here. The fact is, I don’t have any pics of me with our most recent dog, Willie, a ridiculously beautiful and friendly long-haired German Shepherd whose passing at nine years-old we still mourn. I was always the one taking the pics. We can’t in good conscience have another dog where we now live. So the column I do for the area papers called “The Real Dogs of White Bear Lake” helps fill that gap. People I’ve never met before are so kind to share their dogs and their stories with me.

Ricka McNaughton
White Bear Lake, Minnesota
”Land of Lakes & Legends”