About

Martha T. Robinson wrote her first story as an assignment in fourth grade. She remembers plotting the story. Thinking about the fairy tales that she loved to read, she thought of the significance of the number three. She knew she had to have three golden apples in the story. Her teacher advised her that she needed an exotic setting, a place where the other students in the class had never been. She remembered living in California and the Sunday road trips into the mountains and used that as the setting for her story. By this time, the story was three handwritten pages long. And it had to be read in front of the class, a thing Martha dreaded with every ounce of her being. Would the boys in the class sit still for three pages of an imitation mushy fairy tale? She thought not. She remembers keeping her head down and mumbling as she read, tongue tied, choking on every word. When her teacher asked if there was more to the story, she said no, that was it. With a face as red as the long sleeve sweater she wore, she sat down.

Through the years, and over thirty years of standing in front of a classroom, public reading of her work has gradually improved, but she still has stage fright, and her hands tremble over the pages. And yet she smiles. She believes in the words she writes and hopes that others will enjoy her work.

Martha T. Robinson is a poet as well as a writer of flash fiction and short fiction. She has been published in Catfish Stew, Petigru Review, moonShine review, and Mom Writers Lit Mag. She lives in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

Martha T. Robinson and Grace W. Looper, SWA Conference, 2009. Photo courtesy of Merrill J. Davies.

Grace W. Looper at her first book signing for Molasses Making Time. Martha T. Robinson was her first customer. Posted by Bella Rosa Books.