personality profile

Darlene Buechel of Chilton has been known to whip out a purple pen and notebook from her purse in the middle of a church service to quickly jot down an idea. Though this behavior may be deemed strange by some standards, for Buechel and her family these random spurts of inspiration are a common occurance.

"The ideas come no matter what I’m doing whether it’s cutting the lawn, taking a walk or sleeping at 3 o’clock in the morning; I’ve got to stop what I’m doing and grab a pen," Buechel laughed.

Buechel has been writing for over 12 years and has had over 100 short stories and articles published. Recently, an article she wrote about growing up in Hilbert, Wisconsin with her brother and sister in the 1960's was published in the popular Reminisce magazine. Buechel was awarded $50 for her humorous story, entitled "Do Bee-Have" which will appear in the May/June 2005 issue of the magazine.

"Reminisce is a magazine in the adult market and it was a little harder for me to write for that age group," Buechel said. "Believe it or not it’s a lot easier to write using a child’s voice than an 80 year old!"

Among other short story publications in various children’s magazines, in 2004 Buechel won the First Place Prize of $50 for her juvenile short story, "The Return of the Real Granny" in the Jade Ring Contest of the Wisconsin Regional Writers Association, Inc. She received first place in the same category in 1999 and was presented with an engraved Jade ring for her accomplishments.

Buechel writes primarily for children and young adults and gears many of her stories for the 9-13 year old age group. "The Return of the Real Granny" follows the story of a girl struggling to cope with her grandmother’s onset of Alzheimer’s.

According to Buechel, the story was loosely based on her own experiences with family members who had the disease.

" I remember my kids being upset after seeing their Great-Grandpa put ketchup on Jell-O and wander around with his winter clothes on in the middle of summer," she said. "I just knew I had to write about what they were going through to help other kids understand that they’re not alone."

Buechel began writing for fun in the early 1990s and was first published in Turtle magazine in 1993, since then she has been published by various magazines and currently serves as a Field Editor for Country magazine.

Buechel admits that breaking into the writing field hasn’t been easy. A working mom with a teenage son and a 20-year old daughter, she has never had formal training as a writer and didn’t attend college.

"Many of the writers I know are college graduates, many are English majors and here I am - a mom working full time trying to compete," Buechel lamented.

Buechel often writes based on events in her life and posts them on the Heartwarmers website, a blog allowing writers to share ideas, poems, essays and stories over the internet. She tries to use humor in her writing and credits her success with patience and hard work.

While currently writing a novel for young adults, Buechel is actively involved in a couple of Round Robins for writers, in which authors share their stories with one another through the mail and receive suggestions and critiques. She plans to continue writing and hopes to maintain her level of success in the future.

"I plan to write until I’m 104 and my eyes won’t stay open and my hand is full of arthritis...and even then I’m sure I can type on a keyboard with my nose!" Darlene laughed.